A Phantom Marooned
by LordPugsy
Summary: No one but Danny was suspicious when his English class was awarded an all-expenses paid cruise trip by an anonymous benefactor. Everyone but Danny thought it was bad luck when they became ship-wrecked on an island in the middle of nowhere. No one but Danny fully understood the dangers lurking in the trees. No one but Danny knew how much danger they were all in so far from home.
1. Chapter 1

**Lord Pugsy here. Once again, I am aware that many fanfictions have been written regarding Danny & Co being trapped or stranded somewhere, but I wanted to do my own take on it. I took inspiration for this from RedHeadsRock1010 "Stranded With My Class" (which I highly recommend you read), so I apologise profusely if the stories are similar in any shape or form. I would like to make it abundantly clear that I have no intent of plagiarising their work; they just inspired me to write my own version. Without further ado, I present A Phantom Marooned.**

_The night was clear and the moon was full and high, as the panther stealthily peered through the bushes of the survivor's camp, looking for its next meal; the campfire sending shadows dancing along the beach and the edge of the treeline. It had been stalking the group all day as they ventured in and out of the jungle, sizing up its prey and waiting for the opportune moment to pounce as it stuck to the shadows. The panther wasn't the only one to notice their arrival however. The big cat had already chased off several smaller animals that had become curious, and the bigger ones never ventured this far out of the jungle; it was determined to have the humans for itself. The thick stench of fear was obvious to the predator, especially among the popular students, in which it relished as it took in the sleeping group of people, targeting those who would satisfy it the most; the larger male in the group looking the most appetising of them all. The panther then turned its senses towards three students lying next to each other a good distance away from everyone else. They were at a far enough distance away from the others so that they wouldn't be overheard or disturbed, but close enough to monitor the large group of people around the campfire. The panther crept closer to the trio, using the treeline and bushes as cover, as its eyes first fell upon the dark-skinned boy on the end, clutching something small desperately to his chest, murmuring as he slept. The panther could sense the fear radiating from the boy, but it wasn't as strong as those around the fire. Puzzled, the big cat's eyes then found the pale-skinned girl on the other end, who laid in a peaceful sleep; she was emitting even less fear than the boy, almost as if she was comfortable in their current predicament. But what made the panther really nervous was the boy in the middle of the two. The fair-skinned boy was awake, crystal-blue eyes penetrating the moonlit night, with messy raven hair. The predator couldn't sense anything from this boy; it was almost as if he was dead, yet somehow very much alive at the same time; it had never come across anything like this boy in its life. The dead/alive boy, as if sensing being watched, flicked his head towards where the black cat was, making eye contact with the animal; neither moved a muscle as they took each other in, blue eyes locking with yellow ones. The big cat felt its hackles begin to rise, when the boy's eyes suddenly flashed bright, neon- toxic green. This alarmed the panther, causing it to run away into the night, forgetting about its next meal. The now blue-eyed boy chuckled to himself as he looked down at the two beside him, before back over to his class, guarding them all as they slept. He knew the big cat wasn't the only creature to watch out for on this island._

**I hope you enjoyed this first snippet of A Phantom Marooned. I have wanted to write this for quite a while, but I had to finish my other fanfiction first before starting this one. Until next time.**

**Lord Pugsy.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Lord Pugsy here. I hope you enjoyed the first snippet of this story. So here is how it all started. I do not own any of the Danny Phantom characters mentioned, except maybe a couple. I only own the story. Please enjoy.**

"Now that is what I call a boat." Exclaimed Tucker, gazing upon the vessel that would take the trio's English Class on a cruise.

"Hmph." Scoffed Sam. "I bet none of it was made from recyclable materials. I hope they cater for ultro-recyclable vegetarians on board."

"And plenty of meat." Tucker was practically drooling at the thought of the buffets they had been promised; Sam just scoffed again and began to rant at how important it was to eat less meat and more vegetables. Danny chuckled as he watched the usual food argument between his two best friends, as he looked around the port nervously. He still couldn't get over the nagging feeling that this whole trip was a trap of some sort and that he and his class were in danger. He continued to look around for his class and Mr Lancer to make sure everyone was acting normally. His eyes fell on Dash, who noticed Danny looking at him and flipped him off.

_Definitely normal_ thought Danny. He then tried his new power that Clockwork had been helping him to develop; he closed his eyes and concentrated on combining his Ghost Sense with his other senses and pushed them outwards. Danny opened his eyes and everything was light blue; he looked at Sam and Tucker and saw that they were both dark blue, meaning that they were human. He looked around the port; every person he saw was dark blue, even Paulina was, who Danny didn't see as exactly human. More of a leech. Danny closed his eyes and breathed in deeply; when he opened them, his sight returned to normal, only to see his friends staring at him.

"What?" He asked.

"Your eyes." Started Sam. "They were glowing and sparkling."

"Sparkling?"

"Yeah." Replied Sam, before blushing at what she just said, causing Danny to blush too.

"Lovebirds." Whispered Tucker, but Danny with his super-hearing heard him perfectly.

"Knock it off Tuck."

"Sorry dude. Couldn't help it." Laughed Tucker. "Were you doing your Sense thingy?"

"Yeah. Just checking that everything is normal." Danny said.

"Still paranoid?" Asked Sam, once she managed to compose herself again.

"The verdict is still out on that one." Responded Danny. "But I've only got a radius of about a hundred feet with it. There could be someone there watching us, but just out of range."

"C'mon dude. Can't you just relax? What are the odds that this is a trap?" Asked Tucker jokingly. "Can't you just accept that some good karma has been given to us for all the good work we've been doing recently?"

"One," Started Danny. "I am nowhere near that lucky. Two, no person in their right mind sets up a raffle for teenagers to take a luxury cruise without some sort of angle or violent agenda. And three, Caspar High never knew anything about the raffle or this cruise."

"When you put it that way, you've got a point." Tucker said dejectedly as Sam walked over to Danny and placed her hand on his shoulder.

"Listen Danny. Even if this whole thing is a trap, we will face it together." She said smiling. Danny looked into her amethyst eyes and saw only truth there. He returned the smile.

"Thanks guys." Danny said.

"Besides," Sam started again. "If it is a trap, we've all packed ghost weapons so we're not exactly under-prepared."

"Very true." Said Danny, as he saw Valerie walking over to them. "I'm sure Valerie will have packed her suit and some extra weapons as well." The trio had grown closer to Valerie after the whole incident with Dani and Vlad; she didn't know that Danny Fenton was Danny Phantom, but she had agreed to stop hunting him and even sparred with him a few times a week. When she found out that the trio also 'hunt ghosts', they had become close friends, despite always being curious as to how they hunted ghosts without her ever seeing them when she was out on one of her patrols.

"Hey guys." Valerie said brightly.

"Hey Val." Danny said a bit sullenly. She turned to the other two with a questionable look on her face.

"Is he still in his paranoid funk like he has been for the past week?" She asked.

"Big time." Replied Sam as she looked at Danny again, concern in her eyes as he was scanning around the port again. Both Valerie and Tucker saw how Sam was looking at Danny, and gave each other a knowing look and smirk. Before Valerie got to know the trio, she always made fun of the two by saying they were lovebirds, but after actually spending time and getting to know them, it was obvious that they were always going to end up together if they ever actually admitted their feelings for each other. She knew what happened between her and Danny was nothing more than a little crush.

"Yeah. We were just reassuring him that even if something did happen, we are fully equipped to handle it." Said Tucker, waving his hand in front of Sam's face, causing her to blush again.

"Do that again Tech-Boy and it'll be my boot waving in front of your face." She said menacingly. Tucker whimpered as he hid behind Valerie as she just laughed at their exchange.

"But Tucker is right," Sam said, in a much lighter tone. "We all have wrist-rays, lipstick-lasers, the Fenton Creep Stick and a couple of thermoses. I take it you have pretty much the same?"

"Of course." Confirmed Valerie, her face then dropping. "But my dad caught me packing my suit and confiscated it. Saying that there is no chance that I will need it."

"Ah well." Said Tucker, reappearing now that Sam had calmed down. "It's not like something is-." He was cut off by Danny who decided to join the conversation.

"Tucker, you finish that sentence and I will take both of Sam's boots and throw them at you. You know what happens when you say stuff like that." He stated.

"Hey. I am not Bad Luck Tuck." Huffed Tucker, bristled by the insult, but then a smirk crossed his face. "But I see you are already comfortable enough to take Sam's clothes off though. I didn't know you had even kissed yet." Danny and Sam blushed uncontrollably as Valerie burst into hysterics. Tucker was about to join her as a boot sailed across and hit him square in the face.

"You have five seconds before the second boot comes off." Warned Sam, her hand still poised from when she threw the first boot. Tucker shrieked about having to go to the gift shop for something and raced off. This just caused Valerie to laugh even more, whereas Danny gave just a small smile before his eyes scanned the port for what seemed like the fiftieth time. The girls just sighed as they caught him looking again as Sam went to retrieve her boot. By the time Tucker had re-joined them, Mr Lancer had made his way over to the group in his cruise attire. He was wearing a vivid purple Hawaiian shirt with shorts, flip flops and a straw hat; the shirt doing nothing to hide the rotund stomach of the English teacher.

"Come along children. The Captain has just given the order for us to ready ourselves for boarding. Our holiday has officially started." The four of them followed their teacher as they got in line behind the A-Listers who seemed to be making a point of pretending they didn't exist; Sam and Valerie just scowled at their behaviour whereas Danny and Tucker weren't particularly surprised or remotely bothered. The less attention they got from the A-Listers, the better this cruise would be as far as they were concerned. Valerie was more annoyed at the fact that Star was joining in. She was the one A-Lister that continued to talk to Valerie after her dad lost his job at Axion Labs and she lost her popular status, but now it seemed she had forgotten about her. Valerie was brought out of her musings as the horn was sounded, signalling that they could board. Danny was about to board when he heard a scuffle behind him. He looked around and saw an elderly man, and what appeared to be his grandson, struggling to climb the ramp. Danny fell back a bit and helped the man on board.

"Thank you sonny." He said, tipping his hat at the teen. "Much obliged. These old bones aren't what they use to be."

"Not a problem." Said Danny, smiling at the small boy beside his grandfather as they boarded the ship.

"Dude?" Came Tucker's voice from the door. "You coming or what?"

"Yeah I'm coming." He took one last look around at the port before entering.

"Wow." Was all Tucker could say as they took in the ship's interior.

"Yeah." Said Danny. "If we are going to die in a horrible trap, at least we'll die in style."

"You got that right." Murmured Valerie.

"I've seen better." Muttered Sam unconvincingly. As her family was rich, Sam had been on plenty of cruises when she was younger, but this ship was something else. It had six decks for every passenger, ranging from cinemas to restaurants; from pools to spas and about twelve bars.

"I say we dump our stuff in our room and then check this place out." Suggested Tucker.

"Definitely." Said Danny, starting to actually feel hopeful about their supposed holiday. "It looks like our rooms are right next to each other as well."

"No late night visits you two." Said Valerie, racing off before Sam could throw her boot at her. Whilst the two lovebirds blushed for the third time that day and Sam rushing off after her, Tucker just looked on with hearts in his eyes.

"Ahh, I think I'm in love." He said, staring off after Valerie.

"Dude, just ask her out then." Said Danny, as they both made their way towards their room at a more leisurely pace. "Tell you what, I will even do you a deal."

"I'm listening."

"You ask Valerie out, and then I will ask Sam out." Tucker's jaw dropped as Danny had finally, kind of, admitted his feelings for the Goth.

"You serious man?" Danny just nodded.

"To be perfectly honest, I have kind of wanted to ever since the whole thing with Gregor/Elliot. Then after what happened with Undergrowth really sealed it for me. I'm crazy about her."

"Then seriously dude, why haven't you asked her yet?" Asked Tucker, relieved and confused at the same time at Danny's confession.

"Nine years we have been best friends. Nine years Tuck. That's a lot to give up if things took a turn for the worst." Tucker was about to disagree with him when they arrived at their rooms with Sam and Valerie waiting outside for them. Danny leaned in to Tucker.

"Initiate Guy Code: Rule 109."

"Rule 109 initiated." Confirmed Tucker with a smile. Danny and Tucker had made the rule that whenever either one of them spoke about a girl in a serious way, it would always stay between them. As they had been practically brothers since they were five, they took the Guy Code very seriously, if only bending it slightly from time to time.

"You know," Started Sam as she saw the guys coming towards them. "If you ate less meat, you would have had more energy and kept up with us."

"As a self-proclaimed Techno-Geek, I feel obliged and duty-bound to view all technological appliances wherever they may be and give them the love and attention they deserve."

"There was a really big TV wasn't there?" Asked Sam.

"A massive TV." Corrected Tucker, lying through his teeth, but the girls bought it, much to Danny's thanks. He gave Tucker a nod of appreciation as they entered their rooms and dumped their stuff on their beds. Their room consisted of two single beds and an ensuite, not that they paid much attention as the girls were getting impatient waiting for them outside.

"So where do you want to go first?" Asked Danny, pocketing the room key.

"Wherever the jocks and cheerleaders aren't." Replied an angry Valerie.

"Sounds good to me." Said Tucker. "Do we know where they are?"

"Well if I know Paulina, and unfortunately I do, she will have coerced anyone and everyone to start tanning immediately on the upper deck."

"How about some food at one of the restaurants then?" Suggested Danny, looking down at his watch; it was just after noon. "We can get something to eat, and then we can go about exploring the rest of this place."

"You mean check it for bombs and ghosts, don't you?" Asked Sam, observant as always.

"One check can't do any harm." Defended Danny, looking nervously at Sam's growing angry stare.

"Daniel James Fenton." She said seriously; the others gulped. "We are here to relax, and only to relax. We aren't in Amity Park anymore. There isn't a ghost around every corner. The only things we have to watch out for here are icebergs and the A-Listers." With that, she grabbed Danny's hand and dragged him towards the nearest restaurant, Tucker and Valerie laughing behind them.

Danny's mind was a little more at ease after eating (Tucker saying that food is the cure for everything), and was taking a stroll on the upper deck towards the bow of the ship with Tucker whilst the girls got ready to go to one of the cinemas on board.

"I think I feel an 'I told you so' coming on." Jeered Tucker, noticing that Danny was much calmer than before. Danny just laughed, looking out to sea.

"Yeah alright. Go on then."

"Dude," Started Tucker, placing both his hands on Danny's shoulders, giving him a serious look. "I told you so." He said, cracking a smile.

"Whatever." Said Danny, smiling too. "You say something else though, and I won't just throw a boot at you." He said pointing at Tucker's pocket, and then over the side. Tucker's jaw dropped.

"You wouldn't dare." He challenged, placing his hand in a protective position over the indicated pocket.

"Try me." Said Danny, with an evil grin on his face. "Say one more thing about nothing can possibly go wrong, and Cheryl will find herself at the bottom of the Atlantic."

"But I just finished paying the last instalment on her." Whined Tucker, taking out his precious PDA and hugging it to his chest.

"Then silence will be her saviour." Chuckled Danny. "C'mon, let's go meet the girls at the cinema. They're probably getting sick of always waiting for us."

"True that." Laughed Tucker, as they made their way inside. "And no making out at the back." Taunted Tucker.

"I could say the same for you Tuck." Countered Danny, causing both of them to burst out laughing, but blushing at the same time. Both boys were so caught up in their childish antics; they didn't notice the Chief Officer rushing past them towards the Wheel House where the Captain was. Upon arriving, he saluted the Captain and spoke.

"Captain. I think we have a problem sir."

"What is it Montgomery?" Asked the Captain from behind the wheel.

"Well sir, we have received a distress signal from a vessel 167 miles from our current location."

"Are we the nearest ship to their position?" Asked the Captain seriously.

"Correct sir." Said Montgomery. "However Captain, that isn't the problem sir." The Captain looked at his Chief Officer perplexed.

"Do enlighten me."

"Well sir, the vessel in question is the Optimus." The Captain stiffened at this.

"But that vessel has the very latest state of the art equipment and machinery. It is nearly impossible for a ship like that to break down."

"I wish that were the whole story Captain," Started Montgomery again. "Upon receiving the distress signal, all radio transmissions with the Optimus have ceased sir. We are receiving nothing from them sir. No one is even attempting to ring for help on their phones."

"Get down to the Chief Engineer and charter a course for the Optimus' last known position now. The passengers will be informed that we are on a rescue mission and their cruise will have to be postponed for a day or two whilst we figure this out."

"Yes Captain." Saluted Montgomery before leaving. The Chief Officer ran as fast as he could towards the engine room, almost colliding with the old gent and his grandson. He gave a rushed apology and hurried off.

"Why was the sailor man running Grampy?" Asked the boy innocently. The old man looked down kindly at his grandson.

"There's nothing to worry about Billy." He said smiling. "Nothing at all."

**Thank you once again for reading this and I hoped you enjoyed it. Until next time.**

**Lord Pugsy.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey everyone. Lord Pugsy here. Here is the next chapter for A Phantom Marooned; I hope you enjoy it. I do not own Danny Phantom, just the plot and the odd character.**

"Hey. Has anyone seen Danny this morning?" Asked Tucker, piling bacon and sausages high onto his plate. Sam, Tucker and Valerie had awoken to find Danny gone first thing; they thought he may have already left for breakfast, but upon arriving at the restaurant on their level, he was nowhere to be found.

"I bet he's checking the ship for bombs or something stupid like that." Said an annoyed Sam, disgusted at the amount of meat Tucker was attempting to get on his plate, as she got some toast and tea for herself.

"Actually, I was just looking for a shower." Came an amused voice from behind them. They turned to see Danny standing there in shorts, t-shirt and trainers with a towel around his neck; Sam couldn't help the small blush creeping onto her cheeks at the sight of Danny in a tight white t-shirt. Saving her the embarrassment of talking, Valerie stepped in.

"Where have you been?" She asked. "We woke up to you already gone. Sam thought you had gone off hunting for imaginary danger."

"To tell you the truth, I was to begin with." Admitted Danny, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. This snapped Sam out of her stupor and gave him a stern glare.

"I thought we talked about this Danny." Sam said, still glaring at him.

"I know, I know. But I didn't sleep very well last night, so I took a stroll to clear my head. And I thought while I was gone, I could check the ship out." Sam's expression softened quickly.

"Still the nightmares?" She asked gently. Danny just nodded. Valerie went to ask about Danny's nightmare, but she caught the look Tucker was giving her that clearly said 'not now'.

"I didn't find anything anyway," Danny started again, trying to get off the touchy subject. "But when I was heading back to the room, I bumped into Alice and Bradley from class. They said they were going to a gym they found on the main map and asked if I wanted to join them. I wasn't going to get anymore sleep as it was, so I went back to the room, picked up my stuff and went with them. The gym here is amazing; it literally had every single exercise machine invented."

"I may look into that." Said Valerie thoughtfully.

"Anyway, I'm going to get a quick shower and I'll be back in about fifteen minutes." He said, before hurrying off, Sam staring off after him.

"Earth to Sam." Said Tucker, waving a sausage in front of her face.

"What?" She asked, too deep in thought to notice the meat in front of her face.

"Tuck?" Valerie said, turning to the other boy. "Mind giving us a minute?" He took one look at her face, as well as Sam's and nodded and went back to the buffet to fill in the small gaps on his plate.

"Talk." Valerie demanded.

"About?" Asked a confused Sam, her thoughts still on Danny.

"C'mon girl. We all know you like him, so why not just tell him?"

"We're best friends. Nothing more." Sam said unconvincingly.

"Yeah, and I'm turtle and Tucker is actually a vegetarian." Valerie said sarcastically. Sam gave Valerie her best glare that would normally leave the guys quivering on the floor, but she just shrugged it off.

"You don't scare me girl, so get to it already. Before someone else does." She added slyly, hoping to get a reaction out of the Goth. Sam's eyes widened.

"Someone else?" She whispered.

"I don't know if you've noticed but Danny isn't exactly the scrawny little geek he was two years ago. He's grown and filled out nicely. But you already know that after we just caught you ogling him in that shirt. It's a good thing he's just as clueless as he was two years ago." She chuckled, causing Sam to blush. Before Sam could say anything, Danny came back into the room and went to grab a plate of food. When he got to the table, Sam had managed to get the colour of her cheeks back to normal, only for them to tinge again when Danny sat down next to her.

"So what are we talking about?" He asked, completely oblivious to their conversation, pouring himself some tea. Tucker then sat down as well, thinking that it was safe to return, plate still piled high.

"We were just thinking of what we could do today, weren't we Sam?" Said Valerie, giving Sam the eye.

"Yeah, of course." She said hurriedly. "I was actually thinking we could go bowling; two decks down have a fifteen lane bowling alley. Could be fun."

"Yeah, I'm up for that." Said Danny, taking a sip of his tea.

"But my aim sucks." Whined Tucker.

"Dude, you ghost hunt. Your aim should be amazing by now." Laughed Danny.

"That's different. Ghost hunting I'm using a high-tech laser beam, not a bowling ball."

"You'll be fine." Said Valerie, giving Tucker a smile. This caused Tucker to blush slightly and agreed immediately.

"Lovebirds." Muttered Sam and Danny together, both breaking out into silent giggles as they finished their breakfast. Valerie didn't hear them, but Tucker did and decided to change the subject.

"Hey Danny," Tucker started. "Before you left for your 'stroll', did you hear the announcement from the Captain this morning?"

"Announcement?" He questioned.

"Yeah. Turns out we've got an extra two days on this cruise because we're on a temporary rescue mission."

"Oh?" Replied Danny, the nagging feeling starting to grow again. Sam and Valerie, noticing this, were trying to silently stop Tucker, but he wasn't paying attention.

"Yep. A ship suddenly lost power in the middle of the Atlantic and so we're off to rescue them. We'll get to them by tonight the Captain reckons." Tucker finished, as he made a sausage and bacon sandwich, with extra sausage and bacon. Danny became very quiet after this, completely wrapped up in his own thoughts. He didn't even notice when Sam kicked Tucker's shins under the table, causing him to choke on his meaty sandwich.

"Let's get to the bowling alley before it gets full." Suggested Valerie, attempting to break the stifling silence.

When they arrived a few minutes later, they were disheartened to find only one lane spare, right next to their favourite people; Dash, Paulina, Kwan and Star.

"Hey. What's Fenturd and his geek squad doing here?" Taunted Dash when he saw them enter the alley.

"Well we are in a bowling alley Dash, so I guess that means we're here to bowl." Valerie said curtly, glaring at the jock. Dash faltered slightly, as he knew he wouldn't be able to take Valerie. Luckily for him, Paulina decided to jump in.

"Eww," she whinged. "I'm going to lose now as the creepy Goth is going to do her creepy voodoo magic on me."

"Trust me Paulina," Started Sam. "No amount of _voodoo magic _will improve your game."

"Woo!" Cheered Tucker from the side-lines. "Cat fight."

"No one asked you Foley." Said Dash threateningly, before turning to Danny who was chuckling at the whole affair.

"You got something to say Fentonia?" He demanded.

"Yeah." Said Danny, still laughing. "Got any popcorn? This is going to be good." Even Dash couldn't help but give a small smile, until he saw Paulina glaring at him.

"Dash!" She shouted. "The geeks are disrespecting me. Do something." Dash looked at Kwan for some support but he was all for the cat fight too; Star was just staying quiet throughout it all as she looked guiltily over at Valerie. Dash then got an idea.

"How about this Fentoid," He started. "One bowling game; one on one. Me and you, Paulina and the Goth, Kwan and Foley and Valerie and Star. Whoever loses has to be the other person's slave for the rest of the cruise." He said, holding out his hand. Danny looked at his friends, who were all nodding encouragement at him; he took Dash's hand.

"Deal." He said confidently, smirking as Dash was trying to crush his hand but was failing miserably, as he poured some of his ghostly strength into the shake to prevent Dash from crumbling it to dust. Realising he wasn't going to win, Dash released Danny's hand and went back to his side of the lane. Danny walked back to his side with a wide smile on his face.

"This is going to be awesome." Tucker gleefully said.

"I know." Said Valerie, smiling widely too. "We can all hit a bull's eye with our eyes closed."

"I can't wait to have that paddling pool as my servant." Sam said ominously.

"I think I'm going to have some fun with Dash. He, as well as the others, don't know what we're capable of." News of the bowling match had spread quickly, and soon their entire English class, as well as Mr Lancer and several other passengers, had turned up to watch the showdown. Danny looked around at the spectators and saw the elderly gent and his grandson watching as well. Danny gave them a wave, which they returned.

"Who are they Danny?" Asked Sam, walking up to Danny.

"I'll explain later. For now, let's beat these guys."

It was decided that Dash and Danny would be the first ones to bowl, and things immediately turned sour for the jock. Scoring a spare on his first go, Dash was quite proud of himself as the audience clapped for him. His joyous feeling, however, was short lived when he looked over to the neighbouring lane and saw Danny bowl a strike. The audience gave him a much bigger round of applause as he walked back to his friends, giving Tucker a high five. He looked over to the jock whose jaw was still on the floor.

"Beginners luck." He said smiling. "Don't worry. It probably won't happen again." But Danny's 'luck', much to Dash's dismay, stayed constant throughout the entire game as he scored a perfect game, with the other three scoring an almost perfect game. When Dash looked at the final scores at the end, he was angered when he realised that everyone on Danny's team had beaten him; the audience were still applauding their bowling skills. His pride and ego having taken a beating, he turned on Danny.

"Fenton you cheat!" He yelled. "There is no way you could've beaten me. You fixed it." As if on cue, Paulina immediately sided with Dash, complaining about voodoo magic. Kwan and Star, on the other hand, knew better than to get involved as they knew they hadn't cheated; the audience were screaming 'bad sportsmanship.'

"Man, I knew you were a sore loser Dash, but I didn't think you would take it this far." Chuckled Danny, as he got up to leave, as did the others.

"Yeah dude." Chimed in Tucker. "About fifty people just watched us and would've seen if we had cheated. Face it, you lost." Dash was fuming so much, he couldn't form a sentence, so the four went to leave the alley; the audience parting for them as they continued to applaud them. Danny noticed, when they reached the doorway, that the gent and his grandson were there waiting for him, big smiles on their faces.

"I have to say lad," The gent started. "That was quite the spectacle."

"It was brilliant." Said the boy, staring at the four with awe.

"Nah, it was nothing." Said an embarrassed Danny, rubbing the back of his neck. "By the way, I never got your names before?"

"Forgive my old age. My name is Robert Wilkinson, but people just call me Bob." Said Bob. "And this here is my grandson Billy."

"Nice to meet you." Danny said, sticking out his hand and shaking theirs. "My name's Danny. This here is Sam, Tucker and Valerie." Pointing at his friends respectively.

"Pleasure to meet your acquaintances." Bob said, tipping his hat at them. "Well don't let us keep you. I suppose you want to carry on celebrating. Until we meet again lad." Both Billy and Bob stepped aside and let them leave the alley. Just as they were about to leave, Dash had finally formed an insult.

"You're such a freak Fenton." He said viciously. The crowd was silent, waiting for Danny's comeback against the jock. Sam balled up her fists and went to go back and hit him, before Danny took her hand and shook his head. He then turned to Dash.

"You're right Dash, I am a freak." Dash snickered as the crowd were about to defend Danny, but Danny put his hand up to motion them to be silent. "But remember this Dash. This freak just wiped the floor with you at a sport." The crowd gave him an even bigger applause as Danny and his friends walked out of the alley, leaving a thoroughly humiliated Dash in their wake.

"Bob seemed nice." Said Valerie, as they walked along the promenade deck.

"Yeah. How did you know them dude?" Asked Tucker.

"Back at port. Bob was struggling to climb the steep ramp and so I hung back and helped him on." Replied Danny.

"Always thinking of others aren't you Danny?" Sam said sarcastically, but with an underlying proudness in her voice.

"Guilty as charged." Smirked Danny, as he edged slightly closer to Sam as they continued to walk.

"It'll get you seriously injured or killed one of these days Danny." Tucker said, trying to be dramatic.

"Well I know how much you like to say 'I told you so'." Countered Danny with a wink.

"You know it dude." Laughed Tucker.

"C'mon guys," Started Sam. "We need to think of something to do before the open air film tonight."

The group decided to go their separate ways before meeting up to watch the open air film; Danny and Tucker found a games room, Valerie went to the gym and Sam went and read in her room. By the time they met up again, it was late and they were scheduled to meet up with the stranded ship around about the time the film finished. The four got a large a deck sofa near the back with their mountain of food (courtesy of Tucker ); they bumped into the A-Listers, but they had gone back to their ignoring act as they went up to the front near the screen. As there was a slight chill in the air, the four opted to stay under a couple of blankets. Whether by accident or on purpose, Danny and Sam were under one, and Valerie and Tucker were under another one as they watched the film. About halfway through the film, the girls had completely fallen asleep, and were snuggled up to their male companions. Danny looked over to Tucker to see a look of pure bliss on his face; Danny could tell because he had the same expression. The moment was soon shattered though, as an ear-piercing klaxon rang through the air waking everyone up and scaring everyone half to death; the Captain's voice was then heard over the speaker system.

_"Ladies and Gentlemen. We are approaching the incapacitated vessel as we speak. Please keep clear of the entry ramp and please no harassing the passengers upon boarding. We aim to complete this task as efficiently as possible. Thank you for your cooperation."_

"Well that was a lovely evening ruined." Muttered Valerie, attempting to disentangle herself from the blanket.

"You're telling me." Agreed Sam, as she stretched out her stiff shoulder muscles. Danny took this moment to give Tucker a look, which he understood fully. He turned to Valerie and whispered something to her, who nodded, and then turned to the other two.

"Hey guys. We're going to see if there is still a restaurant open. We'll see you later." Tucker then, as he passed Danny, leaned in.

"Your turn mate." He smirked. Danny looked at Valerie who was nodding, a wide smile on her face.

"Congrats man." Said Danny, smiling nervously. "I'll see you later."

"Not is fine too." Grinned Tucker, who ducked away before Danny could hit him, and walked off with Valerie.

"What was that about?" Asked Sam, as she watched Tucker and Valerie walk back into the ship.

"Nothing." Danny said unconvincingly. "Just guy stuff." Before Sam could question it, he changed the subject.

"Hey, do you fancy a walk? We can go to the other side and see if we can get a glimpse of the other ship."

"Sure. Sounds good." Walking very close to each other, they walked to the port side and looked out to sea, where they saw a luxury yacht floating stationary a few hundred yards from them.

"That is a wicked looking boat." Said Danny, trying to start a conversation as he prepared himself for what he was about to ask Sam.

"Yeah, it is." Agreed Sam. "It's called the Optimus." Danny looked at her questioningly. "Rich family remember? We got one when they came out a month ago."

"Remind me to come round more often." Joked Danny. "Well, more so than I do already." This earned him a dig in the ribs as Sam laughed.

"Sorry." Said Danny, still smiling. "I am surprised that you were on a yacht though."

"Only that particular yacht." Corrected Sam. "It's extremely environmentally friendly and made only from recycled materials. The designer is part of the United Nation's Green Peace project."

"Fair enough then. Hey look. They've got there." Pointed out Danny, as the shipmen entered the craft to look for the crew and passengers, Sam following his gaze. He took this moment to look at her as he had done for a while when she wasn't looking.

_Ok, _thought Danny. _Time to do this. _"Hey Sam?" He asked nervously.

"Yes Danny?" Sam replied, turning to him.

"I was just, you know, wondering," Started Danny, leaning in closer to Sam as she did the same. "If you wanted to go-."

"Hey guys!" Shouted a voice from behind them. Cursing under his breath, he put a bit of distance between himself and Sam, much to both of their disappointment, and looked to see Mikey, Nathan and their twin sisters Chelsea and Michelle, coming towards them.

"Nice night isn't it?" Said a completely oblivious Nathan, gesturing towards the night sky.

"It was." Muttered an annoyed Danny, which only the sisters picked upon. About to stick up for their brothers, they saw the looks of disappointment on both Sam and Danny's faces and knew exactly what they had stumbled upon.

"Hey guys?" Said Chelsea, try to get the boys' attention who continuing to talk to the Danny and Sam. "It's getting cold out. Let's head inside. I think I heard Craig and Eric saying something about a pool tournament." This got their attention, so they said their goodbyes and walked inside, Danny letting out a breath he hadn't realised he was holding. Silence fell upon them both.

"Well that was awkward." Sam finally said.

"Just a tad." Agreed Danny, laughing slightly, causing Sam to laugh, and easing some of the tension.

"Anyway," Danny started again, looking into Sam's eyes again. "What I was going to ask was.-" A loud ringtone cut through the air as Danny's phone began to ring. Groaning, he answered it.

"What?" He asked a bit harshly.

_"That's no way to speak to your mother young man."_ Came Maddie's annoyed voice on the other end.

"Sorry. I was just in the middle of something and you kind of interrupted."

_"Are you finally telling Sam?"_ Squealed Maddie.

"Yes, I am. Now can you please go?" Whispered Danny.

_"Oh my boy is all grown up. Good luck sweetie."_ Said Maddie, verging on sobbing; Danny could hear his dad on the other end.

_"The boy's a Fenton! He doesn't need luck. Now where's the celebratory fudge?"_ He said loudly. Danny hung up before he could be embarrassed further by his parents. Sam must have realised because she was giggling at the sight of Danny's face. He was about to put his phone back in his pocket when he received a text. Danny looked at it; it was from Jazz.

_Good luck little brother x_

Danny then turned his phone off before putting it back in his pocket.

"Sorry about that." He said, embarrassed.

"Don't worry about it." Laughed Sam. "Everything normal in the Fenton Household?"

"As normal as it can be." He said, laughing too.

"So what were you going to ask me?" Asked Sam, hoping for no more interruptions.

"Right, I was going to ask you something important." Said Danny, confident of finishing this time. He was about to finally ask Sam out, when something caught his eye.

"Do you see that?" He asked, pointing out to the stationary yacht, the rescue boat still floating next to it.

"See what Daniel?" Responded a very angry Sam, but Danny was too caught up in his thoughts to register the angry tone or the use of his full name.

"They've been gone for a while now, and there has been no movement whatsoever on that boat." Anger starting to dissipate into mild annoyance, Sam spoke.

"What of it? Maybe your eyesight is off." Danny huffed.

"My eyesight is perfect. Keep a look out." With that, Danny used his Sense to see what was going on. What he saw made him shudder; there wasn't a single person on the Optimus. Danny scanned each level thoroughly and there wasn't a trace of anyone on board.

"No one's there." He muttered softly.

"What?" Asked Sam, getting angry again.

"There is no one on that boat. Everyone is gone." Sam's anger vanished quickly as she took in what Danny had just said. Before she could say anything, the Optimus exploded in a fiery ball of molten metal, sending jagged parts hurtling at the cruise ship. Sam screamed as Danny embraced her and erected a small, green ecto-shield around them; bits of debris bouncing harmlessly off of it. When the barrage on the ship had ended, Danny let go of the shield and looked around to see if anyone had seen them; luckily no one was around. Just as the two were calming themselves down, the klaxon sounded again with a distressed Captain on the other end of the speakers.

_"Ladies and Gentleman. Will you please make your way to the lifeboats. The explosion from the Optimus has penetrated two of our bulk heads. I repeat, please make your way to the lifeboats post-haste."_ Danny, still holding Sam's hand, ran with her to the other side of the ship where people were already lining up to get on a lifeboat. They quickly found Tucker and Valerie waiting next to the rest of their class, embracing them as they arrived. All of them were present and accounted for, much to Danny's relief.

"There you are Mr Fenton, Miss Manson." Said Mr Lancer, relieved that the entire class was there. "We are going to be the next group of people to be lowered, so get ready." Danny just nodded as he took in the scene before him; people were crying and shouting, with the Stewards doing the best they could. The only consolation was that there would be enough lifeboats for everyone on board. However, the nagging feeling kept growing as Danny looked at all the passengers rushing around on the deck. Just as his class was getting on the lifeboat, Danny powered up his Sense and took a quick scan of the ship. To his horror, despite most people being on the top deck, there were two people stuck three decks down who appeared to be an old man and a young boy; Danny's stomach dropped.

"DANNY!" Screamed Sam from behind him. "COME ON. THEY'RE LOWERING THE BOAT!" True enough, the boat was being lowered without them. He rushed over to Sam.

"The Wilkinson's. They're trapped below." He said, looking her dead in the eye. Sam's eyes widened, then gasped at what Danny was suggesting.

"Don't you even think about Danny. You can't save everybody." She begged, tears forming in her eyes as the boat got lower and lower.

"I'm sorry Sammy." He whispered into her ear. He then kissed her fully on the mouth and then threw her onto the descending lifeboat at Tucker and Valerie, and ran back towards the sinking ship, hearing Sam's screams all the way.

Danny made sure no one was watching before he turned invisible and intangible, and began floating down through the ship; his Sense active and guiding him towards the trapped duo. At last he arrived at the door.

"Mr Wilkinson?!" Danny shouted. "Are you in there?"

"Is that you Danny?" Asked a small voice from behind the door.

"Billy?! Are you and your grandfather alright?"

"I am, but grampy's leg is stuck." He whimpered.

"It's going to be ok. I need you to do me a favour Billy. I need you to step far away from the door. Can you do that for me?" A few seconds later, Billy spoke again.

"Ok, I'm not at the door anymore." Danny then used all his strength and kicked the door clean off its hinges, causing it sail across the room.

"Danny!" Danny looked over and saw the problem. Bob's leg was pinned under the wardrobe which had come loose after the impact. Bob looked over and saw the teen.

"Get out of here lad!" He shouted, wincing in pain. "Get Billy and yourself out of here. There's nothing you can do for me now."

"Nuts to that Bob. Both of you are coming with me right now. Billy, get in the doorway now." When Billy was a safe enough distance away, Danny leaned down and picked up the wardrobe above his head and tossed it into the corner of the room. He leaned down and helped Bob up, who had an incredulous look on his face.

"H…How did you do that?" He stuttered.

"No time to explain." Said Danny, as the whole ship gave an almighty lurch. "The boat is sinking and we need to get top side." Danny, acting as a crutch for Bob, picked up Billy with his other arm and half dragged, half ran up the three flights of stairs. When they got up to the top deck, they saw one lifeboat left, about to be lowered.

"HEY!" Shouted Danny. "WAIT FOR US!" The Steward saw them just in time, and beckoned them over.

"I can only fit two in!" He shouted as the ship began to creak from the water pressure.

"That's fine!" Danny shouted back. "My class are on another lifeboat on the other side of the ship! Just get them on!" He shouted, gesturing to Bob and Billy. He helped the Steward lower them onto the smaller boat, Bob giving him an appreciative look.

"I don't know how to thank you Danny!" Bob shouted.

"You can thank me by staying alive!" He shouted back to the old man. He then turned to the Steward. "Get these people out of here now!" Once he was sure the lifeboat was secure, Danny rushed to the other side of the sinking ship and looked down. He could see his class' lifeboat clearly not too far away; his class had seen him and were screaming his name, motioning him over to them. He was just climbing the railing, when the ship gave a colossal lurch sideways as it began to roll over, sending Danny crashing back the way he came, hitting his head as he went. With fuzzy vision, Danny struggled up the steep incline until he grabbed hold of the railing. He grabbed on just in time; as he grabbed it, the ship had rolled completely on its side, causing him to dangle from the railing. Pulling himself up, swaying as he stood atop the sinking ship, he looked down at the hundred foot drop. He did the only thing he could think of. He jumped; hoping that someone was looking out for him as he plummeted into the inky black water below him.

**Slightly larger than the previous chapter, but there was a lot I wanted to get in. I hope you enjoyed it. Until next time.**

**Lord Pugsy.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey everyone, Lord Pugsy here. I hope you are enjoying the story thus far. Here is the next chapter where Danny & Co are stranded out at sea. I do not own Danny Phantom; only the story.**

The moment Danny kissed her, Sam's mind went completely blank as she savoured every second their lips were connected. The euphoric feeling was cut short though when Sam felt herself being lifted into the air, and thrown at the descending lifeboat, straight into Tucker and Valerie's arms.

"DANNY!" She screamed, but it was too late; Danny had already ran back inside the ship to look for the trapped people.

"What is he doing?!" Shouted Tucker in disbelief.

"He's trying to be the stupid hero again! PULL US BACK UP!" She screamed again, struggling against the two that were trying to hold her steady. "PULL THE DAMN BOAT BACK UP NOW!" The lifeboat continued to lower, against the Goth's desperate cries, until they touched down on the water.

"DASH! KWAN!" Shouted Mr Lancer. "Man the oars! Get us far away from that ship! It may end up rolling this way!" The boys grabbed the oars and started paddling as hard as they could.

"Mr Lancer you can't!" Sam cried urgently. "Danny is still on the ship!"

"Who cares?!" Shouted Dash, still paddling. He wasn't being malicious; he was terrified, as were the rest of the class. Deep down, Sam knew this, but that didn't stop her anger bubbling to the surface. Before anyone could do anything, Sam snatched the oar away from Dash and bashed him round the head with it, sending him to the floor of the boat; Sam stood over him menacingly and looked at the others.

"Anyone else?" She was being malicious, and everyone knew it as they all shook their heads. Their looks of fear were suddenly replaced with a look of hope as they looked back up to the doomed ship.

"There's Danny!" Shouted Mikey. Sam looked up, and true enough, there was Danny standing at the railings, looking out at them; they all started shouting and beckoning him over to them. Their hopeful thoughts, however, were crushed when the ship started rolling away from them, causing Danny to disappear from sight as he fell back.

"NO DANNY!" They all shouted, Sam being the loudest. Seconds felt like hours as the group watched in horror as the boat completely turned on its side, threatening to capsize completely. When all hope seemed lost, the group could just about make out a figure standing on top of the rails; it was Danny. He paused for a moment before coming to the conclusion of diving off the hundred foot high boat, plummeting into the cold Atlantic. After what seemed an age, Danny's unconscious body broke the surface. Sam, fuelled with adrenaline, took off her coat and went to dive in after him, before Tucker and Valerie held her back.

"Sam, no!" Shouted Valerie, tightening her grip on the teen.

"Get off me!" Sam squirmed. "I have to get to Danny."

"Sam?" Tucker said softly into her ear. "Danny can't freeze to death. You on the other hand can." Sam locked eyes with Tucker and she knew he was right. He was just as scared for Danny as she was, but she realised he had a point, as she slumped into Valerie's embrace. Tucker, knowing that Sam wasn't going to try anything again, grabbed the oar and threw it to Craig, the next strongest kid, and gave Kwan a stern look.

"Get us to Danny quickly." He said authoritatively. "Mr Lancer is right. That ship could still fall back this way." Not put off by the boy's sudden show of courage, the boys took to the job with zeal and made their way to Danny, who was still floating there.

"Eric, get over here," Started Tucker as they got closer to Danny. "When we get to him, you grab his right arm and I'll get his left." He turned to the boys paddling. "Hold us steady. We don't want to hit him or go over the top of him." When they were close enough, the two boys leaned over and dragged Danny onto the lifeboat.

"Get us away now!" Ordered Tucker to Kwan and Craig. As the boys were paddling away, the rest of class looked down at Danny and recoiled slightly; there was a thin, steady trickle of blood going down the side of his face. Dash had forgotten to be angry at Sam for hitting him; even Paulina was quiet as she looked down at the injured teen. It was then that the class realised that Danny wasn't breathing.

"He's not breathing!" Cried Tucker, checking his pulse. "Who knows CPR?" He looked around as Alice put her hand in the air.

"I know the basics." She said shyly.

"That's good enough." Said Tucker. "Do what you can." As Alice moved towards where Danny was lying, she looked guiltily back at Bradley and then at Sam. Valerie saw the look and realised what was bothering her.

"Come on Alice. Sam will take care of the mouth to mouth. Just focus on pounding his chest." Relieved at hearing this, both Sam and Alice got to work on Danny, but after a few minutes there was no change. Alice sat back and started silently crying; Bradley coming up behind her and hugging her as the rest of the class just sat there in shock as the boat continued to drift out to sea. Sam, not believing that Danny could be gone, started pounding on his chest.

"Don't you dare Danny. Don't you even think about dying on us." Sam said, continuing to hit his chest. "You do not get to kiss me and then go ahead and die." She continued to hit his chest and slapping his face. Finally, Danny choked up sea water and had a massive coughing fit as he dry-heaved up all the salty water. Before he could gather his bearings, Sam launched herself on him and gripped him tightly.

"Sam." Danny said in a raspy voice. "Can't. Breathe."

"I don't care." She said, verging on crying. Realising he wasn't going to win, Danny just sat there and held tightly onto the crying Goth, not caring who was watching. Eventually, she eased off a bit, so that he could sit up, but he did so slowly.

"Dude?" Asked Tucker. "You ok?"

"I don't know." Slurred Danny. "Since when were there three of you?"

"He's got a concussion." Said Valerie, answering the confused looks from the rest of the class; she turned back to Danny who was beginning to sway.

"Just lay back down Danny. We don't want to aggravate it even further." Danny just nodded as he laid back down where he was before, quickly falling to sleep. Realising that was probably the best thing to do, the occupants of the boat got themselves comfortable and fell into a restless sleep. Sam was the last to fall asleep as she couldn't help but worry about Danny; at last, snuggling up to him, she eventually drifted off.

The morning came too soon for the occupants of the lifeboat as the cold Atlantic air woke them from their slumber; their only good fortune was that the water had remained calm throughout the evening. Danny was still asleep Tucker noticed when he woke up. If it had been anyone else, he would have worried but Tucker had seen Danny overcome larger injuries; it only took him a day to recover from his fight with Pariah Dark. A cold chill disturbed his thoughts about his best friend, causing him to shiver, pulling Valerie in closer to him so that they could stay warm. Everyone was beginning to shiver, even those who had thick coats on. Sam, realising they had to keep up appearances, went to put her coat around Danny to prevent any probing questions that would be sent their way. However, before she got a chance, Mr Lancer placed a hand on her shoulder.

"I think you are in much more need of that Miss Manson." He said gently.

"Danny needs it more than I do Mr Lancer." Lied Sam; Mr Lancer just shook his head.

"In case you hadn't noticed Miss Manson, but this is a lifeboat from a luxury cruise ship, not a little raft." He gestured under their benches where there were a series of compartments. In the first one there was a large medical kit; in the second was several dozen bottles of water, and in the last was about twenty, thick blankets. Sam took several for her, Danny, Tucker and Valerie, as well as some water, and went back to where they were sat with Danny.

"Is he going to be ok?" Asked Valerie in a whisper, as she looked down at Danny's still form, still in Tucker's embrace.

"He'll be fine Val." Assured Tucker, holding her tighter. "I've seen him get hit by Skulker and he just walked away from it. A knocked head won't slow him down." He knew what he was saying was true, but that didn't stop him from worrying about his best friend.

"Why did he go back?" Asked Valerie; this time Sam spoke up.

"Because that's who Danny is Val. He cares. If someone's life was in danger, no matter who it was, he would risk his life to save them." She sniffed. Valerie just nodded contemplatively.

"That explains it then." She said, more to herself than anyone else.

"What do you mean Val?" Asked Tucker. Valerie just gave them both a look.

"When were you guys going to tell me?" She asked.

"We don't know what you mean." Said a nervous Sam. Valerie gave them a small laugh so not to attract unwanted attention.

"That Danny here is Phantom." She whispered, still smiling. Valerie then gave another little chuckle at Sam and Tucker's faces.

"When did you find out?" Tucker asked finally.

"Couple of weeks after the thing with Vlad and Danielle." Valerie said.

"How did you know?" Asked Sam.

"After we initiated the truce, we began to spar with each other, which is when I began to notice things; little things. They both rub the back of their necks when they're embarrassed or nervous. They have the same laugh. The same goofy nature." Laughed Valerie. "There is also the fact that they look and sound exactly the same as each other. I'm just sorry it took me to stop attacking him to notice these things. I just hope he can forgive me." Her voice becoming lower, causing Tucker to hug her tighter again.

"Don't worry about it Val." Tucker said, comforting her. "Danny forgave you as soon as you helped him rescue Dani. He's crazy about that little girl."

"Thanks Tuck." She said, smiling up at him, before a frown crossed her face.

"What I don't get is how becoming half ghost suddenly turned him into this courageous superhero. The Danny I knew from years ago was always shy and scared of everything." This time it was Sam and Tucker's turn to laugh.

"See, that's where you're wrong Val." Said Tucker.

"Yeah," Agreed Sam, giving Danny a loving look. "He's always been brave. He just never wanted the attention. I remember this one time, two years before he got his powers, we were all walking back from seeing a movie and we saw this house on fire. When all of a sudden, we heard a scream from inside; there was a child trapped on the second floor. We couldn't help but stare in horror. There was no one around so Danny just shouted at us to call the emergency services, and then he ran into the building to save the trapped child." Valerie gasped.

"Yeah." Said Tucker. "That's what we did."

"Anyway," Continued to Sam. "By this point, a small crowd had gathered outside the burning building. As the first fire engine appeared around the corner, Danny came bursting out the front of the building with a small boy in his arms. He was covered in burns, but he was determined to care for the boy." Sam just smiled reminiscently, until Danny's voice cut through the air.

"It was a little girl, not a boy." He chuckled, opening his eyes, laughing harder when he saw the shocked looks on his friends' faces. Sam smacked his arm, but she was beginning to smile as she pulled him into a hug.

"We thought you were asleep."

"Hyper-sensitive hearing remember?" Danny said, smiling still, pulling away from the relieved Goth. "I heard everything." He then looked guiltily over at Valerie, who had a matching expression.

"I'm sorry I never told you Val. If it's any consolation, Tucker was right. I forgave you for everything you did the moment you helped Dani. It was at the point when I really wanted to tell you everything."

"How did it happen?" Valerie asked quietly. Danny took a quick glance around the lifeboat, making sure no one was listening in. Seeing that everyone was back in their social groups and talking amongst themselves, Danny turned back to Valerie.

"Two years ago in my parents' portal thanks to a certain Goth." He said, giving a look to Sam who blushed and looked down.

"I still feel guilty about that." She said softly. "I effectively killed you." Danny just took her hand, causing her to blush harder.

"Never feel guilty for it Sam. I wouldn't have had it any other way." Said Danny. "Anyway, my parents thought it was broken so I ventured in with some enthusiastic encouragement. Once in there, I brushed against the wall where the on switch was; turns out they had forgotten to switch the stupid thing on. I was shocked with ten million watts of electricity as well as the entire Ghost Zone. The result, one super-powered, half dead teen." Whilst Valerie took in this information, Danny took the chance to take in his surroundings and assess their situation. What worried him was that there wasn't a single other lifeboat in sight.

"Something's not right." Danny finally muttered, the other three looking confused at him.

"What do you mean?" Asked Sam.

"We should have seen a rescue boat now, let alone another lifeboat."

"We all floated in different directions though." Tucker threw out.

"That's beside the point. We were following the Gulf Stream on the Cruise, so when all the lifeboats drifted off, they would've been caught in that current and travel in the same direction as the rest of us, eventually hitting the North Atlantic Current to the East." Danny said, looking to the sky and using whatever remaining stars there were to get their rough location.

"So what's the verdict?" Asked Valerie nervously.

"We're not heading East," He started, his face dropping. "We're heading South." Danny's three friends all had scared expressions on their faces as they took in their predicament; their shared moment was shattered, however, when there was a collective gasp from the rest of the boat. The four looked around and saw that the other occupants of the boat had been listening in to the last part of their conversation.

"_Great Gatsby!_" Cried Mr Lancer. "Are you sure Mr Fenton?"

"I wish I was wrong." Muttered Danny.

"How do we know Fenton's telling the truth?" Asked a suspicious Dash, but scared nonetheless. Danny just sighed.

"Because I study Astronomy Dash. I know how to use the stars to pinpoint my location no matter where I am. Look," Danny said, pointing behind them. "You can just about still see the North Star, also known as Polaris, up there behind us. This means we are heading in the opposite direction, meaning South." Danny reiterated. It was at this point that Star gasped, even louder this time.

"But that means we won't be rescued." She said, starting to panic.

"Stop panicking. You're going to make your hair worse than it already is." Whined Paulina, as she started to run her fingers through her hair, grimacing when she got caught on a knot. Danny just shook his head.

"You don't understand Paulina." Danny said softly. "Star is right. Anyone looking for survivors will be following the Gulf Stream, or be waiting for us when we hit the North Atlantic Current, because that's where they'd assume we'd be travelling. We won't be rescued, because they won't be looking where we're not supposed to be."

**I hope everyone enjoyed this, despite the lack of action in it. I am trying to space out the action/adventure stuff as I do not want it all crammed together. Until next time.**

**Lord Pugsy.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Lord Pugsy here. Here is the next instalment of A Phantom Marooned where we find the class drifting in the middle of the Atlantic. I hope you enjoy it. I do not own Danny Phantom; only the story.**

"I spy, with my little eye, something beginning with 'S'."

"Sea?"

"Yep. Ok, I spy, with my little eye, something beginning with 'S'."

"Sky?"

"Yep. Alright, I spy, with my little eye, something beginning with 'S'."

"Sun?"

"Damn. I spy, with my little eye, something beginning with -."

"You say 'S' one more time, I'm going to throw you over the side."

It was the beginning of the second day stranded at sea and everyone had become very irritable at the lack of food; boredom had also quickly set in as the group struggled to think of things to do to pass the time. Things had become so desperate, the class had resorted to cloud watching and playing multiple games of I Spy. Danny and Sam still hadn't discussed what happened back on the ship, but they were currently enjoying each other's company as they were often seen cuddling at the back of the boat, much to Tucker and Valerie's approval as they thought it was about time.

"I'm _so _hungry." Whined Paulina, breaking the silence. The rest of the boat, including Mr Lancer, just groaned; the Latina hadn't stopped moaning the entire time they had been adrift. Even Dash was getting annoyed with her.

"_Everyone _is hungry Miss Sanchez." Sighed Mr Lancer. "So would you please refrain from reminding everyone that there is currently no food?" Paulina huffed, uptight that no one was paying her the usual amount of attention she was accustomed to back at Caspar High. She glared hatefully over at Danny's group as more people were talking to them than they were her, due to the fact that Danny was quite knowledgeable in their current predicament. She huffed again.

"I'm _so _hot." She moaned again, dramatically fanning herself with her hand, trying to get the attention back on her.

"You're going to be something else in a minute if you don't shut up." Murmured Sam from Danny's lap, causing Danny to smirk. Unfortunately Paulina heard her.

"What did you say to me?" She asked angrily. Sam just looked her dead in the eye.

"Wow. I would have thought the lack of hairspray would increase your hearing, not dull it even more." Sam said sarcastically, causing Danny, Tucker and Valerie to stifle their laughter. Paulina leapt to her feet, causing the boat to rock.

"You got a problem you Goth Freak?" she asked insultingly, causing Sam to jump to her feet, the boat rocking dangerously now.

"As a matter of fact I do. It's five foot tall and looks like an Oompa Loompa did its makeup."

"_War of the Worlds!_" Exclaimed Mr Lancer, giving the two fighting girls incredulous looks. "Miss Manson, stop baiting Miss Sanchez. As for you Miss Sanchez, end your infernal complaining, or so help me, I will put you in detention for a month when we get back to school. It is not helping anyone right now." The thought of detention and being back at school was a sobering thought as both girls sat back down in their usual spaces; the ensuing silence beginning to become too much until Danny finally spoke up, with a wide smile on his face.

"I spy with my little eye something beginning with 'L'."

"A low-life, loudmouth Latina?" Said Sam, glaring daggers at Paulina.

"No," Danny said, still smiling wide. He pointed out in front of them. "Land."

The class was just staring at the small, jungle island in front of them; they were still quite a way away from it, but if they paddled hard, they would get it to with daylight to spare.

"Dude, please tell I'm not hallucinating." Begged Tucker, as he gazed in front him along with the rest of the class.

"You're not hallucinating Tuck." Confirmed Danny, still smiling. Rejuvenated with hope, Dash and Kwan took up the oars and started paddling ferociously. Their paddling was so erratic that they were soaking everyone in the boat, but the class was beyond caring at this point as they continued to cheer on the two jocks. Danny almost joined in when his nagging feeling returned as he looked at the island in front of them; standing near the back of the boat so no one would see him, he activated his Sense and looked at the island. There was nothing special about the now blue island, but it was what was encasing the island which was worrying Danny.

_Is that a force-field? _Thought Danny as he looked upon the blue dome surrounding the island. The idea was dismissed when he saw birds flying straight through it, with only a slight noticeable hindrance as they faltered slightly. This worried Danny even more though, as he couldn't think of what energy it could possibly be. Turning off his Sense, he could now see the energy-field; it made the island shimmer ever so slightly.

"Stop paddling right now!" He shouted, startling the rest of the boat.

"What's wrong now Fenton?" Groaned Dash, pulling his paddle back into the boat. Mr Lancer, recognising that Danny was a more competent leader in this situation (much to his surprise), had ordered that whenever Danny said to do something, they did it.

"Do you guys not see that?" Danny said, pointing at the island.

"See what Mr Fenton?" Asked a confused Mr Lancer, squinting ahead at the island.

"Does it not look like the island is _shimmering _to you?" The class continued to strain their eyes looking at the island until eventually everyone could see it.

"Whoa." Said Kwan.

"Yeah, whoa." Mirrored Chelsea.

"Could that not just be the salty air playing tricks on our minds?" Asked Mr Lancer nervously.

"Yeah, like what can happen when you're dehydrated in the desert and you see mirages." Said Mikey.

"That's what I thought, but look up there," Started Danny, pointing to where birds were still passing through it. "I don't think hallucinations can physically affect a bird flying through it." They all took a moment to think about it.

"So what do we do Danny?" Asked Valerie.

"That island is our only refuge," Danny sighed, rubbing his temples. "We carry on, but slowly. We know it's physical. We know it only slightly hinders organisms, but we have no idea what it will do to this boat when it goes through it." As they neared the energy-field, the tension in the boat could have been cut with a knife. Sweat was pouring off of Dash and Kwan as they tried to maintain a slow pace towards the island, as the current began to pick up speed. When they were ten metres away, everyone could see it clearly; it looked like the air was thick with tiny diamonds as the sun reflected off of it. With five metres to go, everyone held their breath. The tip of the boat seemed to pass through effortlessly, but the occupants gripped the sides of the boat tightly as it felt like something was pushing against them as they passed through it. As Danny was at the back of the boat, when he finally passed through it, he knew something was wrong; his vision blurred, his lungs constricted and his stomach clenched in pain. Before he could cry out, the pain ended as soon as it started as they passed the energy field. The sea on this side was much calmer, so Dash and Kwan had an easier task of getting the boat to the island, which was suddenly a lot bigger than it what it was on the other side.

"Wow," Said Star. "Did everyone feel that?"

"Yeah," Said Nathan. "It was like trying to push your hand through jelly."

"Yeah, but with your whole body." Piped up Alice.

"Yeah." Muttered Danny, holding his stomach. "Like jelly." Only Sam heard the distress in his voice.

"Are you alright Danny?" She asked worriedly, placing a hand on his arm.

"Yeah, I'm fine Sam. Just feel a little woozy as all." Danny said, trying to assure her. The uncomfortable feeling had seemed familiar but he couldn't place it. She was about to say more when Michelle called from the front.

"Hey!" She shouted. "My bag is smoking!" Danny whipped his head around, not fully understanding what Michelle was saying.

"What are you talking about Michelle?" Danny asked wearily, still holding his stomach. Michelle lifted up her bag, which had smoke pouring out of it. Danny was about to speak when he noticed that everyone's bag had smoke coming out of it. Hesitantly, Danny picked up his smoking bag and tentatively put his hand in, trying to find the source of the smoke. He recoiled slightly when he felt something hot. Carefully, he pulled out the smoking remains of his phone, which appeared to have melted. He gave everyone a confused look, as they all reached into their bags to find their phones in a smouldering mess. It was difficult to judge who wept the hardest between Paulina, who's whole life revolved around her social network of friends, or Tucker, who's whole life revolved around his PDA. He was about to join Valerie and Sam who were consoling him, when Eric spoke up from the front.

"We're almost there!" Danny stumbled up to the jocks that were still paddling, not particularly concerned that their phones were probably piles of melted plastic in their bags.

"Great job guys." He commended. "Just be sure to take shallow strokes the closer we get to the beach. We don't want to snap or snag the oars on anything." Eventually, the lifeboat hit the beach. They had made it. Everyone got off the lifeboat and started to walk up the beach, mesmerised by the jungle in front of them, before Danny spoke up.

"I know everyone wants to explore or lie down, but we need to drag the boat up to the trees. We don't want the tide taking it away when we're not looking. Not you two." Danny added, clapping Dash and Kwan on the back. "You guys have done enough. You go up to the treeline and just rest. We can handle the boat." Normally Dash would have punched Danny for touching him, but he was too exhausted from all the paddling, so he and Kwan just trudged up the beach and promptly fall down in a heap.

"Alright," Said Danny. "Everyone, and I do mean _everyone, _grab a side and pull/push." He specifically looked at Paulina when he said this, noticing she just wanted to head up the beach with the two guys and weep over her phone. Tucker was the same with his PDA. As soon as they started pushing/pulling, Danny knew it was a lost cause. Everybody was just too weak and tired from lack of food and lack of a good night sleep, so he manoeuvred himself to the back where no one could see him clearly, and begun to use some of his ghostly strength. Before too long, everyone had 'pushed' the boat up to the treeline where Dash and Kwan were fast asleep. Danny wanted nothing more than join the sleeping boys, but he knew they couldn't put anything off just because they were tired; especially as they were in the middle of nowhere.

_We need a fire, _thought Danny, looking up as the sun had just begun to set, colouring the sky a vibrant orange. He looked around the class to see who was able enough to collect some fire wood.

"Eric? Craig?" Danny asked, the two boys looking up from where they were laying. "Can you come with me and help collect some firewood? It's going to be night soon and we're going to need some source of warmth." The boys grumbled an ok, before standing up and following Danny to just inside the treeline, where they stripped branches from the nearest trees.

An hour later, the class had a strong fire going, with everyone in a silent circle around it, each deep in their own thoughts. Danny was preoccupied with the fact that he was the one who was affected the most by the energy field, reinforcing the notion that it was a ghost, or ghost hunter who had done this to them; his mind roamed back to the exact feeling he had experienced when passing through it, struggling to remember when he had felt like that before. It was a sort of empty feeling. He was somewhat aware of Paulina on the other side of the fire, who had begun complaining to a clearly bored and irritated Star.

"And without my nightly mud-mask, my pores are going to open and get clogged with all this sand." Moaned Paulina; Star was just nodding in an absent minded way, having heard this complaint twenty times since they arrived on the island.

"We could always clog your throat with sand if you preferred?" Asked Sam, who was leaning on Danny, opposite Paulina.

"I heard that freak."

"You were supposed to." Smirked Sam, causing Paulina to jump to her feet, memories of their argument on the lifeboat flooding back to her.

"It was clearly your fault that this has happened to us!" Shouted Paulina.

"What are you talking about?" Asked Sam.

"Your creepy voodoo and jealousy over my good looks is why we're stranded." Shot Paulina, causing Sam to laugh.

"Yeah, because that's the reason we're here."

"So you admit it!" Cried Paulina, going slightly delirious.

"_To Kill A Mockingbird!_" Cried Mr Lancer. "Calm down this instant girls!"

"Come off it Paulina." Said Sam standing and facing off the crazy Latina, ignoring Mr Lancer's protests and gawps from the rest of the class. "What's to be jealous of? It takes you three hours to put your 'good looks' on." That did it for Paulina. She launched herself at Sam and started slapping and scratching her. Sam, forgetting that she had a black belt in karate, copied Paulina as they attacked each other. Mr Lancer attempted to intervene, but he got sideswiped by Sam, and went crashing to the sand. After that, everyone just started cheering 'cat fight' at the girls in combat in front of them, until Danny had had enough.

"ENOUGH!" He shouted. Everyone turned to look at Danny, who was standing up, scared by the pure rage in his voice. He marched up to the girls, grabbed them by the back of their necks and lifted them both into the air, showing a feat of strength that confused and awed the rest of the class. He brought his arms out and dropped the girls, so that he was in the middle of them. He turned first to Sam.

"Stop it Sam. You know she can't help it, and you're just making it worse."

"She started it." Growled an angry Sam, annoyed at the fact that he was standing up for Paulina.

"I don't care. I'm finishing it." He said, glaring at the Goth. She was about to fight back, but she saw the rage in his eyes; they may have been their usual blue, but she could see Dark Dan's red eyes lurking deep within them, and was silenced quickly. Danny then turned to Paulina, who faltered under the same gaze.

"Get it into your head Paulina. There are no mud-packs, spas, shopping centres or hair spray here. We are against Mother Nature herself out here on this forsaken island, and she doesn't like to take prisoners. Your petty arguments and incessant complaining is not going to help us survive. You either put aside your ridiculous, egotistical pride and survive by working with everyone, or remain a spoilt and narcissistic little girl who won't last the week. " No one, including Sam or Tucker, could believe how dark Danny was sounding right now.

"How dare you speak to me like that Fenton?" Spat Paulina, finally regaining her voice. "Who do you think you are freak?"

"Oh I dare Paulina. I very much dare." Danny said, his tone of voice becoming low and dangerous, sending chills down everyone's spines. "As for who I am. I am the freak who is going to make sure everyone lives through his hell." The fire's reflection danced in Danny's eyes, giving them a more dangerous look, creeping everyone out and silencing the Latina completely. Realising he may have gone too far, Danny turned and walked off, not meeting anyone's eye. He left the circle and headed towards the up-turned lifeboat where he stood on top of it; his body language clearly stating that he didn't want to be disturbed.

A few hours later, Danny was still in the same spot on the lifeboat as the rest of the class fall asleep around the campfire. He was about to jump off and head back to the fire when he caught the faint scent of burning coming from the boat's hull. Looking at it closely, he could make out a small hatch with the word 'EMERGENCY' on it. Confused, Danny pried it open, finding the remains of an emergency signal beacon.

"Typical." Danny said to himself.

"What is typical Mr Fenton?" Said a voice behind him. Danny turned to see Mr Lancer standing a few feet from him.

"We were sat on the beacon this entire time." Danny sighed. "It looks as if that energy field destroyed it along with our phones. Although, it doesn't look completely ruined. Maybe the boat's metal hull shielded it slightly. I'll get Tucker to look at it later." Mr Lancer just nodded in agreement, an uncomfortable silence befalling the duo.

"That was quite the performance back there Mr Fenton." Mr Lancer said, breaking the silence.

"Yeah," Said Danny, rubbing the back of his neck. "I think I may have gone slightly overboard on Paulina. But she had to understand we're not in Amity Park anymore."

"Oh I agree wholeheartedly." Said Mr Lancer, shocking Danny. "But I do think an apology will not go amiss either." Danny nodded sullenly as Mr Lancer spoke up again.

"Your girlfriend has quite a mean right cross Mr Fenton. I would steer clear of agitating Miss Manson whilst we are here." He chuckled.

"She's not my girl -." Danny stopped himself, looking at the amused look on his teacher's face. "I suppose she is my girlfriend now."

"You are unsure?" Queried Mr Lancer.

"We haven't exactly had much time to discuss it."

"I see your point. I would not leave it too long though Danny." Mr Lancer said, as he began to walk away.

"Mr Lancer?" Asked Danny.

"Hmm?"

"You called me 'Danny'." Mr Lancer turned to the teen and smiled, who reciprocated the smile.

"I did. I think, under the circumstances, such school formalities are irrelevant in our current situation." This caused Danny to chuckle.

"Does that mean we get to find out your first name?" He asked jokingly.

"That, Mr Fenton, you will have to wait and see." He started to walk away again, laughing slightly, when he looked back one final time.

"You are an enigma Daniel Fenton." He said, thinking over the teen's sudden change in behaviour, knowledge and strength. "An enigma I shall endeavour to figure out." He gave Danny one final smile before walking back to the fire.

"Good luck Mr Lancer." Danny said, as he turned to face out to sea. "When the time comes though, you may wish you hadn't."

**I would like to thank a reader who pointed out the emergency beacon which modern-day lifeboats have nowadays. I knew I was forgetting something. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Until next time.**

**Lord Pugsy.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey everyone. Lord Pugsy here. Sorry about it leaving it later than I normally do to update, but work has been manic as of late. Subsequent chapters may also take slightly longer to be uploaded leading up to Christmas, but I shall endeavour to put at least one chapter up a week. Without further ado, here is the next instalment of A Phantom Marooned.**

_Your time is up, Danny. It's been up for 10 years._

Danny awoke in a cold sweat and breathing heavily, the nightmare still fresh in his mind. He had only been asleep for a few hours until the nightmare woke him up. He looked around, the sun only just beginning to rise, and checked on the group around the now burned out fire; he had stayed where he was by the lifeboat for the night for reasons he couldn't quite explain. He just didn't feel right sleeping next to people he had shouted at the previous night. A shiver suddenly ran down Danny's spine, but not due to the cool Atlantic air, but from the after effects of his dream.

_Maybe a swim will help clear my head _thought Danny, as he made his way down to the surf. He used his Sense quickly just to make sure there weren't any surprises in the water; finding nothing, he removed his top, rolled up his jeans and waded in until the water was chest high. Instead of swimming, Danny crossed his legs and sat on the bottom, the calm morning water making it serene for the troubled teen. As Danny was half ghost, he could comfortably stay like that for around fifteen minutes before needing to come up for air, but he wasn't in any rush. This was the first time since the sinking of their ship that Danny felt at peace.

By the time he needed oxygen, Danny was feeling much better. He stood and turned to make his way back up to where he left his shirt, when he saw Valerie standing there holding it, waiting for him. Danny exited the water and headed for where she was stood, wiping most of the water off and shaking off the excess from his hair, before gratefully accepting the outstretched shirt.

"Thanks Val." Said Danny, putting it over his head.

"No problem." She replied. "I saw you go in. I was about to dive in after you when I didn't see you come up for a while." This caused Danny to laugh.

"Thoughtful, but unnecessary." Smiled Danny, attempting to get sea water out of his ears. "I don't need to breathe as often as humans do."

"'Humans'." Copied Valerie. "Still going to take some time for me to get used to that."

"I'm just glad you are taking the time to get used to it." Said Danny, giving Valerie a warm smile, which she returned.

"So you going to tell me what you're doing taking a dip at the crack of dawn?" Valerie finally asked, causing Danny's face to drop.

"Just needed to clear my head."

"Bad dreams?" Asked Valerie; Danny nodded.

"They've been happening for a while haven't they?" Danny gave her an impossible look, causing her to shrug. "I know that face Danny. I had bad dreams for weeks after everything that happened to my dad and me. Speaking of which, don't even think about apologising anymore. I know you're not to blame." She said quickly, as Danny was about to do just that. A long pause occurred whilst Danny inwardly struggled whether to share with Valerie.

"The difference though Val," Danny started. "Is that my dreams can actually happen."

"What do you mean?" Asked Valerie, causing Danny to sigh.

"Are you sure you want to know this Val? When you hear it, you may wish you had destroyed me when you had the chance." Valerie was about to object when she looked into Danny's eyes; his usual bright blue eyes held nothing but pain and sorrow. Valerie gulped before nodding slowly.

"Ok. Do you remember when we took the C.A.T's last month?"

"Yeah, they were awful." Said Valerie, chuckling. Then she remembered something else. "Wait, that was when you cheated wasn't it?" Danny physically recoiled at the word 'cheat'.

"I did not cheat." Danny said, his voice becoming as dangerous as it had been the night before. He looked over and saw Valerie's scared face.

"I'm sorry Val, but I didn't cheat. However, in an alternate timeline I did." Valerie was about to ask a question, before Danny raised his hand. "Please. This will go much easier if you save your questions for the end." Valerie nodded her acceptance, motioning Danny to continue.

"In an alternate timeline, I did cheat on the C.A.T's. This one simple act set off a chain of events which ended up in the deaths of everyone I cared about. I was alone, and the only person I could go to was Vlad."

"You went to Vlad?" Valerie asked incredulously, Danny nodded.

"As a Halfa, he was the only person I could turn to. I just wanted the pain to go away, so I asked him to rip out my ghost half." Valerie gasped.

"It can be ripped out?"

"Yes, by using the Ghost Gauntlets. What neither of us could have possibly predicted was that my ghost half was in just as much emotional turmoil as my human half. When he got ripped out, he snapped. He took the Gauntlets from Vlad, ripped out his ghost half and merged with it; his evil half overwhelmed me and within ten years, I became the most evil and ruthless ghost on the planet."

"I'm sure you weren't that bad." Said Valerie, trying to make Danny feel better.

"I was. The only city left standing was Amity Park. I had razed the Earth to the ground." Danny paused. "And loved every minute of it." He spat as he remembered how much his future-self enjoyed destroying things.

"It was only through the help of the Ghost of Time that I saved everyone, barely. From that day on, my obsession intensified as I know that He can still happen if anything happens to the people I care about." Danny finally finished, waiting for Valerie as she looked deep in thought.

"That's why you walked off last night, wasn't it?" Said Valerie, as pieces were starting to fit together. "You thought He was happening?" Danny just nodded, and then was pleasantly surprised when Valerie brought him in for a hug.

"Boy, you really are clueless." She laughed, confusing the ghost teen even further. "I see how much you care about people, whether you're Fenton or Phantom. That and the fact you fear becoming evil means that you won't become evil." Danny just smiled as he took in Valerie's words.

"Now get your butt in gear before I kick it like I used to. We've got a very scared and annoyed class to deal with."

Truer words were never spoken as Danny realised the class' fear and annoyance wasn't aimed at their predicament, but aimed at him. The rest of the morning, the class would avoid making eye contact and give him a wide berth whenever he approached them. But what hurt Danny the most was that Sam was one of them. He could've handled the class ignoring him, as he had to put up with that for the past four years, but Sam had always been with him, along with Tucker. Now she spent her time with Alice and Bradley and would make a point of ignoring Danny's very existence. Danny's only salvation was that Tucker, Valerie and Mr Lancer were talking to him, but Danny had a suspicious feeling that Tucker was only talking to him because he was still mourning the loss of 'Cheryl' and was kept busy when Danny asked him to take a look at the Emergency Beacon. Danny then began to notice over the next couple of days the gravitation towards Mr Lancer, and to a lesser extent Dash, as their leader. This feeling was reinforced on the day they ran out of clean water. The fruit they had acquired from the trees would only get them so far. Danny, knowing that no one would listen to him, voiced his concerns to Mr Lancer and told him what they should do.

"Right class," announced Mr Lancer once he gathered everyone around him, Danny staying in the background. "It has come to my attention that our supply of water has dwindled to a dangerous level. Therefore, we must find a new source, which means delving deeper into the jungle." Immediately, the class erupted into a frantic panic at the idea of going into the jungle; they had only ventured about fifty metres in at the most.

"_Lord of the Flies!_" Exclaimed Mr Lancer, silencing the class. "This is no time to panic. We will not be going in alone; we will be together at all times. If we stick together, there will be nothing to fear. Dash will be taking lead, and I will bring up the rear." He said, gesturing to the blonde jock, a flash of fear crossing his face, before instantly dispelling it.

"Now," Mr Lancer started. "Tucker, Mikey and Chelsea will remain at the beach and work on fixing the beacon; the rest us leave in ten minutes. Prepare yourselves." As the rest of the class got themselves ready, Danny made a beeline for Sam, who had yet to start speaking to him again, when Mr Lancer called him over.

"Yes sir?" Asked Danny.

"I want you at the back with me. I want you to point anything out and I will act as the messenger between yourself and Dash. I am sure he will be distrustful if he hears the information coming directly from you." Danny looked down at this.

"I understand."

"Good man." He said, clapping Danny on the back. "Now, let's get going."

Danny was on edge the entire time they were walking; his eyes darting in every direction as his hearing picked up even the quietest of sounds. They had been walking for almost half an hour when they finally stumbled across a game trail. They followed it for a few more moments before they came to a running stream where they could refill their water bottles. Not realising that it was Danny's idea to get more water, or that it was his idea to find a game trail to follow, everyone but Sam and Mr Lancer went and congratulated Dash for getting them here. No one gave him a second glance but these two, who saw Danny look down with a sad look on his face. Sam was about to walk over to him, but then Dash's voice cut through the air.

"I reckon we should head back now Mr Lancer." He said, a hint of nervousness creeping into his voice as he worriedly looked around the trees.

"I think that would be wise." Confirmed Mr Lancer, as he too looked at the ominous trees around him. "Alright everyone, same order as we were before, then we'll set off." Mr Lancer was counting off everyone who passed him until he realised they were one short. He looked back over to the stream and saw Danny stood there, looking intently at it.

"Danny?" He asked the teen. "We are heading back now." When there was no reply, he walked over, thinking he knew what was troubling the boy.

"Look," he started. "If it is about Dash claiming all the credit, you should not feel disheartened. Myself and, if I am not mistaken, Sam know the truth."

"It's not that." Danny finally muttered. "I'm used to Dash taking credit for something he didn't do. I'm even used to the fact that people will always choose to follow him over a nobody like me; I know I'm no leader."

"Then what it is the problem?" Asked Mr Lancer, feeling guilty that one of his students was being so hard on himself, when he knew exactly how much potential he had.

"This place." Danny said. "Everything about this place is wrong. First there was the freaky current that brought us here. Then there's the unexplainable energy field surrounding this island that fried all of our phones. Finally, there's the fact that we're in the Atlantic Ocean, but somehow there's a tropical jungle in the middle of it." There was a pause before Mr Lancer spoke again.

"It is a shame."

"What is?" Asked Danny, looking at his teacher confused.

"That you do not show this level of inquisitiveness in class." He said, giving Danny a wry smile, causing Danny to laugh.

"I'll be sure to work on that if, when we get back." Silence befell them, before Mr Lancer realised that the rest of the class was getting ahead of them.

"I think it would be best if we went. We do not want to get lost in a place like this."

"You go on ahead; there is something I want to check out first. I won't be long." Mr Lancer was about to rant at how absurd Danny was being, when he looked in Danny's crystal-blue eyes and saw nothing but honesty and determination.

"There you go again."

"What?"

"Why is it that if anyone else had suggested they go off wandering in a jungle to look for something, I would have said point blank that they were foolish, and subsequently dragged them back to the beach myself?" Mr Lancer asked, creases in his forehead appearing as he tried to suss out the teenager in front of him. "But when you ask me, I feel compelled to let you go and I know that you will be alright and that I should not worry." Danny was about to respond when Mr Lancer raised his hand.

"And do not give me an excuse which could rival 'can I go to the bathroom?'," started Mr Lancer again. "I may only be a school teacher, but I am intelligent enough to know when someone is not telling me the truth."

"I'm sorry Mr Lancer, but I can't tell you. Not right now at least." Danny said in a quiet voice.

"I can respect that. All I ask is that, while I can accept you keeping certain truths from the class and me, you do not lie to us?" Said Mr Lancer, holding out his hand. Danny gave a wide smile before shaking his teacher's hand.

"Deal."

"Good. Now, wherever it is you are off to, I want you back before the sun starts to set. Otherwise, I will create a search team, and we will come looking for you. And neither of us want that." This caused both of them to laugh.

"Alright sir," started Danny. "I promise. I'll see you all later." With that, Danny turned around and started heading up to where the source of the stream was, leaving Mr Lancer to his thoughts as he hurried to catch up to his class.

_You give a whole new meaning to the word 'mystery' Mr Fenton, _he thought to himself. He was so wrapped up in his thoughts, that by the time he had caught up to the class, who hadn't noticed his absence, he didn't notice the pair of yellow eyes watching their every move.

Despite the roaring sound, Danny found the sight in front of him beautiful. He had located the source of the stream after about half an hour of walking; it was a colossal waterfall. Using his Sense, Danny found that the where the water collected at its base, before running off, it was teeming with fish. Danny smiled as they would now have a source of meat instead of only eating fruit, which was only of benefit to Sam, Alice and Bradley. Walking back, feeling proud of him that nothing had gone wrong, the nagging feeling that he had become accustomed to over the past few days, began to increase as the jungle became eerily quiet. Just as he positioned himself in a battle stance, he was hit by something from behind, sending him crashing to the ground. Years of ghost training sparked through his head as Danny's reflexes sprang into action. Using the momentum of his fall, he crouched into a ball and rolled into an upright position, to come face to face with his attacker.

_Is that a baboon? _Thought Danny, as he looked at the monkey perched on a low hanging branch, gazing intently at him. Before he could do anything, the baboon launched itself at the teen, but this time Danny was ready. Just as the baboon was about to make contact, Danny turned himself intangible, only for the attacking animal to crash into him, scratching him down his neck. Panicking, Danny lashed out with his fist, connecting with the side of the animal's head, causing it to scarper off through the trees. Realising that he was alone now, Danny stood up and inspected himself, frightened of what he might discover. He attempted to turn himself intangible, but to no avail. He next tried to turn invisible and fly but nothing was happening. Almost hyperventilating now, Danny tried to light his fist with ecto-energy. What is usually bright, neon green was now just a dull flicker, getting duller by the second until disappeared completely. That was when it dawned on Danny at the familiar feeling when they passed through the energy field. It was the exact feeling when he got zapped by the Plasmius Maximus, just without the pain. In frustration, Danny slammed his fist into the nearest tree, completely uprooting it with his sheer strength. Confused, Danny inspected his hand to see his knuckles in shreds, but the skin slowly knitting itself back together. Relief flooded through Danny's system as his hand glowed blue, as he channelled his ice powers and created a small snowball. Clutching at straws, he inhaled deeply, as if to perform his Ghostly Wail; when he felt the power begin to build, Danny cut it off immediately.

_So I have my strength, Wail, ice powers, Sense and healing ability, but lost my basic ghostly abilities _thought Danny, as he began to make his way back to the beach, wiping off the blood from his neck. By the time he got back, the sun had begun to set and everyone was laid around the campfire talking, the excitement of their productive day taking its toll on them as they became sleepy. The talking ceased as soon as Danny returned; looks of confusion turned to horror as they noticed the blood on his shirt, but he ignored their whispers as he passed by them and headed straight for the lifeboat. As Danny laid back and looked at the constellations above him, slowly dozing off, he realised he wasn't scared that he had lost half his powers, but he was scared as to how only half had been taken from him. Then a high-pitched scream pierced the night.

**I hope you enjoyed this latest chapter, and continue to look forward to reading the rest of it. Until next time.**

**Lord Pugsy.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hey everyone, Lord Pugsy here. Sorry for the delay, but the next couple of chapters will be put up once a week due to stupid amounts of uni work. Without further delay, here is the next chapter of A Phantom Marooned.**

The beautiful morning sunshine mocked the weary class as they stared at their burned out fire, listening to the gentle breeze rustling through the trees. The scream from the previous night had left them all shaken; the gravity of their situation finally crashing upon them as they realised that they weren't the only ones on the island. There were things out there which could kill them. The next topic on the class' mind was Danny's sudden appearance from the trees, blood coating his neck and the top of his shirt. Dash had commented that Danny had fallen over, but everyone glared at him for that, silencing him immediately. On his return, Danny had diligently scrubbed his shirt clean, not wanting people to ask questions about the flecks of green in his blood. Where peoples' minds were fixed on the scream they heard during the night, Danny's mind was focused out to sea. Beyond the energy field, the largest storm cloud Danny had ever seen (bearing in mind he had fought Vortex) was slowly making its way towards them. Knowing that he was about to incite confrontation, Danny walked over to the rest of the group and tapped on Tucker's shoulder, still hunched over and working on the beacon.

"Hey man. How's the beacon going?" Tucker looked up at him.

"Not good dude." He said pessimistically. "It's taken me a week to clear out all the burnt parts, let alone getting around to fixing it."

"You'll figure it out Tuck," started Danny. "You always do." He smiled down at his best friend as Valerie took one of his arms.

"Anyway." Danny said again, this time everyone was able to hear him. "If you haven't made any progress by the end of the day, stop and pack up." Cries of anger and confusion followed swiftly.

"Are you crazy Fenton?" Demanded Dash.

"That beacon is our only chance of getting out of here." Said Star

"We need him to keep going." Craig chimed in.

"He clearly wants us trapped here." Said Dash, looking to Paulina for support, but her terrified eyes were transfixed on Danny. Danny saw her looking at him and registered the amount of fear in her eyes, and looked down guiltily.

"_Robinson Crusoe!_" Exclaimed Mr Lancer, silencing the argument before it got too out of control. "Now Danny, would you mind explaining as to why work on the beacon should cease?" Danny pointed out to sea where the storm cloud was still approaching.

"Do you see that? That storm is massive, and it will interfere with the beacon's signal. Won't it Tuck?" Tucker looked out to sea, then back down at the beacon.

"He's right." Said Tucker, looking around the class. "Even if I were to fix it by the time that storm gets here, the electro-static energy could react with the energy-field and blow it up for all I know."

"There's more though." Said Danny, after he let everyone take in the bad news, looking from the storm to the area they had been sleeping since they became stronger. Then it dawned on Sam.

"We're going to need shelter, aren't we?" Danny looked into her eyes and nodded, deeply missing their dark purple colour, before getting back to the situation at hand. He was about to tell them what they needed to do, before realisation hit him. A knowing look was passed between Danny and Mr Lancer, the latter nodding, understanding what needed to be done.

"Right class," began Mr Lancer, getting everyone's attention off of Danny and onto him. "It looks like we need to build ourselves some living quarters."

Whether on purpose, or by accident, Danny had been put into a group with Dash. This meant that unfortunately Danny had to take the back seat on this task, as the other members of his group (Paulina, Alice and Chelsea) were still slightly wary of him; although, people were beginning to show more confidence in his presence now. Their task was to gather as many vines and long branches as they could, and then bring them back to the beach. Typically, Alice and Chelsea had been designated vine duty and Danny was left to carry the branches they collected as they went; Dash and Paulina just strolled ahead of them, not carrying anything.

_Typical, just like school_ thought Danny as he walked behind the rest of his group, his arms piled high with branches_._ With his strength it didn't bother him in the slightest, but he thought that Dash may have wanted to contribute to their survival. This thought was reinforced when Alice tripped on the vines she was carrying, subsequently falling into Chelsea and sending them both to the ground in front of Danny.

"Watch it losers." Snarled Paulina. "Don't go breaking all the stuff we worked so hard to find." She was about to say more when she caught Danny's narrowed eyes and turned away quickly and walked slightly ahead of Dash. Danny held in his chuckling, as he realised that Paulina was still terrified of him, and instead stooped down to help Alice and Chelsea collect the dropped vines.

"Thanks Danny." Said Alice and Chelsea once they gathered everything.

"No problem." Smiled Danny, causing the girls to smile back at him, as they headed back towards the beach. When they arrived back, Danny saw something which caused him to smile again. Valerie's group had arrived ahead of them, but what Danny saw was something better; Valerie and Star were talking and laughing together. He knew how hurt Valerie was when Star first deserted her, but seeing them now meant that Star had finally come to realise what a big mistake she had made. Danny continued to look at them as Star was even talking, and appearing to have a good time with Nathan, Craig and Michelle. Only Sam's group was missing, but Danny wasn't too worried; he knew she could take care of herself. Danny, Alice and Chelsea continued walking towards the group, dropping off their piles of branches and vines on top of the other groups'.

"Everything alright?" Asked Danny, joining the larger group.

"It's getting there. Slowly." Responded Valerie, glancing over to Star, who smiled back at her. Danny was about to talk again, when the air was filled with a loud scream, then another, and another, and another, and another. Everyone on the beach looked around at each other, mortified.

"Sam." Danny said quietly.

Danny charged through the trees following the sounds of the screams, desperately trying to get to Sam as fast as possible, his ghostly speed helping him significantly. He finally came to a clearing and saw that Sam, Kwan, Bradley and Eric were helping Mikey scramble up the tree they were situated in. But Danny's attention was drawn to the base of the tree they were in.

"You have got to be kidding me." Danny said aloud, dumbstruck. In front of him was a three metre long Komodo dragon, scratching at the tree with knife-like claws.

"DANNY!" Screamed Sam. "GET UP A TREE! THEY CAN'T CLIMB!" Danny slowly stepped back towards a nearby tree, only for a stick to break under his foot. The great lizard's head snapped around, its eyes narrowing as it located easier prey. Faster than Danny could have anticipated, the Komodo dragon whipped round and rushed towards him. Fortunately for Danny, he was considerably faster. He turned and race towards the nearest tree and jumped onto the lowest branch, just out of reach of the dragon, as it barrelled straight into the tree. Flicking its tongue out to test the air, the lizard looked up at the teen in the tree before him; realising that there was a greater number of prey in the other tree, the lizard turned and shuffled back to the tree with the five students in it.

"So, err, Fenton," started Kwan, fearfully looking from the Komodo dragon to Danny in the opposite tree. "You got any ideas?" Danny looked into the groups' eyes as he started brainstorming ideas.

_Ok, stupidly big lizard who can run fast, _thought Danny. _Can run faster than them, but not me. I could lead it away while they escape to the beach_. Danny started formulating a plan, when his nagging feeling returned as he looked at the large lizard patrolling around the tree, its tongue still flickering in and out.

_Its tongue! _Thought Danny in a moment of realisation. _It can taste us in the air. It can track our scent wherever we go. Dammit!_

"Any ideas Danny?" Asked Mikey in a scared voice. Danny gave his best comforting smile.

"Yep. But I'm so not going to like it."

"What are you talking about Danny?" Asked Bradley.

"Here's what's going to happen. I'm going to jump down and lead it away from here. As soon as we're gone, you're going to jump down and run as fast as you can back to the beach." Said Danny.

"Danny you can't!" Cried Sam, tears beginning to form in her eyes. "That lizard is too quick."

"Not for me." Smirked Danny, as he jumped out of the tree and landed heavily on his feet so to attract the Komodo dragon's attention. He edged around the clearing, finding a large enough gap in the trees for him to run through; the lizard's eyes following him.

"When you hear me shout 'GO', leg it." Commanded Danny, before picking up a small rock.

_I am really going to regret this_ thought Danny, before throwing the rock, hitting the lizard right between its eyes, before running off; roaring with anger, the dragon gave chase. When he was about a hundred metres away from the clearing he shouted as loud as he could.

"NOW!" Danny chanced a look back, slowing ever so slightly so he could be in the lizard's sight at all times. What he didn't expect was for the dragon to be right on his tail.

_Damn it's fast _thought Danny, as he yelped and put on a slight burst of speed. He continued to run, with the lizard hot on his heels, as he prepared himself for what he needed to do. He spotted a low hanging branch ahead of him and slowed down ever so slightly so the dragon was right behind him. Upon reaching the branch, Danny jumped for it and swung himself up on it, the large lizard racing past him. Before the lizard could course-correct, Danny concentrated his cryo-kinesis and shot an ice beam at the ground, extending it out into the distance, taking the dragon with it.

"Wow," Danny said aloud. "That worked better than I thought." Danny made his way back to the clearing, happy to see that his classmates had done as he had asked of them. He made his way into the centre and prepared himself.

"Let's hope this goes just as well." Danny said to himself, as he powered up his Sense. Looking around, he saw all six of their scents clearly hanging in the air. Concentrating, Danny made the air around him drop to sub-freezing temperatures, and then pushed the air outwards in every direction, taking their scents with it.

_Let's just hope that puts off any other predators wanting to make snacks of us _thought Danny, as he made his way back to their campsite. _But Komodos in the Atlantic? This island just keeps getting weirder and weirder._ Danny barely made it out of the trees and onto the beach before he was tackled by a hug which could rival Frostbite's; Danny looked down to see Sam clutching onto him for dear life. Danny was about to hug her back before she pulled away and slapped him hard.

"Don't you _ever _do anything that reckless again Danny Fenton." She said angrily, but Danny could hear the underlying care in her voice, causing him to pull her back into a tight hug.

"You know me Sam. I wouldn't be a ghost superhero if I wasn't reckless from time to time." This caused Sam to give a small chuckle as she quietly cried into Danny's shoulder. Danny finally let out a sigh of relief as he finally got his best friend back, and maybe, something more.

That night was one of Danny's best; he was sat against a fallen tree, significantly closer to the campfire than what he had been before, but still far enough away so that he wasn't going to be disturbed. He looked to his left and saw Tucker asleep next to him, still clutching his broken 'Cheryl' closely to his chest. Valerie wasn't with him this time as she was still with Star; Tucker respected this as it had been a few months since they had properly spoken to each other. Danny then turned to his right and saw Sam, leaning against him asleep. Every now and again, he would cast a watchful eye over his sleeping class around the campfire, then over to the large pile of vines and branches, soon to be their shelter when the storm was due to hit. Danny then heard a slight rustle in the bushes up near the treeline and looked for the source; his own blue eyes came across a set of yellow eyes, glowing bright from the reflection of the moonlight, lurking within the shadows. If he hadn't of been looking for something, he would have missed it. Their eyes were locked for a matter of moments, before Danny decided to have a bit of fun and flashed his eyes green, scaring the hiding animal. Danny chuckled as his super-hearing heard the animal run off in fright. Feeling only slightly guilty about terrorising the animal, Danny then turned his gaze towards the oncoming storm, only a few miles from them.

_Tomorrow is going to be really interesting._

**I hope you enjoyed this latest instalment, and I hope you continue to read and enjoy it. Until next time.**

**Lord Pugsy.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hey everyone, Lord Pugsy here. Here is the next instalment of A Phantom Marooned, and I hope you enjoy it. I do not own the characters only the story.**

As soon as Danny woke up the next morning, he knew things weren't going to be in their favour. Overnight, the storm had accelerated, and was now about a mile away from them. They were going to need to do another food and water run, as they had no idea how long it would last. His musings were disturbed when he felt someone shift next to him; looking down, he saw Sam cuddled up to him, with both his arms around her. He smiled as he reminisced at how they had almost made up last night when he came out of the jungle after seeing to the Komodo dragon; the dragon was still bothering him though.

_How on earth did that lizard get here? _Danny asked himself. _There is no way it could have migrated to the other side of the world from where they usually inhabit. First the baboon, then the Komodo, and then the large cat from last night. The longer we're here, the more weird it becomes._

"Everything alright Danny?" Asked Sam, disturbing his thoughts once again. Danny just shrugged it off.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Sam looked up and gave him a stern glare.

"Danny. I know for a fact if I wasn't holding both your arms right now, you would be rubbing the back of your neck." This caused Danny to chuckle embarrassingly.

"Yeah," started Danny. "I should probably break that habit. Never know when it may come back to bite me. It's part of the reason why Val figured out who I was." This caused Sam to sit up.

"You know she knows?"

"Yep. She told me a couple of days ago, when she caught me coming out of the ocean."

"What were you doing in the ocean?" Sam asked worriedly.

"I had another nightmare that night. I needed to clear my head, so I thought a quick swim in the Atlantic would help, and it did. I'm just glad she accepted me so quickly." Danny's voice quietened near the end, causing Sam to clutch his hands, hearing the underlying sadness in the way he said 'she'.

"They will accept you Danny. They're your parents." She said softly; Danny was silent for a moment before answering.

"I know they will accept me, but they will still fear me."

"How do you mean?" Danny just sighed.

"Remember when I told you when I faced Dan? How you were tied up in the Nasty Burger?" Sam nodded. "Dan revealed who I was beforehand to them, and they seemed to accept it right before I fought him. But I will never forget the look in their eyes when they saw me in my Phantom form, and then comparing me to Dan." Danny fell silent, causing Sam to sit up and face him, and pulling him into a tight hug.

"You listen to me Daniel Fenton." She started, her voice soft. "They. Will. Accept. You. They're only going to be afraid because it was their portal which did this to you. Nothing more, nothing less." She then kissed him softly on the lips.

"Now get your act together. Today is going to be a long day." Sam said, in a much lighter tone, causing Danny to chuckle.

"You know what? I'm starting to think that you're saying my full name far too often on this trip." Laughed Danny as he stood up, before turning to Sam and pulling her up.

"Well you're giving me plenty of reasons to do so." She said, laughing also as she took his hands.

"Come on then _Samantha _Manson. Let's get to work." Said Danny, dodging to one side as Sam threw one of her boots at him, still laughing as he did.

Danny eventually slowed down so that he and Sam could walk hand in hand down to the rest of the group. He reached the campfire and gave Tucker a high five before looking for Mr Lancer; he saw him doing his rounds near the treeline. Kissing Sam's hand, he made his way to him.

"Morning Mr Lancer." Said Danny upon reaching his teacher.

"Good morning Danny."

"Good?" Queried Danny.

"Well, 'good' in the loosest possible sense." Corrected Mr Lancer, smiling as he did so, causing Danny to smile. "Care to explain to me what you were doing with a 'freaking dinosaur' last night?" Danny raised his eyes at the weird question.

"I believe that was how Kwan described it to us last night around the campfire."

"Oh the Komodo?" Said Danny, when the realisation hit him.

"That would be my guess." Responded Mr Lancer. "I would have spoken to you last night, but I saw the look of pure bliss on your face upon your reunion with young Samantha over there. So I thought it best to save my questioning for this morning." Danny's cheeks had glowed red at the mention of Sam and rubbed his neck embarrassingly as he looked away from his smiling teacher. After a moment, he looked back up to see Mr Lancer gesturing the teen to continue.

"It was nothing. The lizard had Sam's group stuck up a tree; I got its attention and lured it off so they could get away."

"Pray tell how you managed to do this without acquiring any injuries?" Asked Mr Lancer, genuinely interested in how this teen managed to achieve what many could not. "It is a rare accomplishment to take on a lizard of that size and live to tell the tale." Danny was about to answer, but Mr Lancer cut in.

"Just remember what we spoke about before. I do not mind you keeping certain truths to yourself Danny, but please do me the courtesy of not lying to me."

"You're a lot cooler than I gave you credit for Mr Lancer." Chuckled Danny, as he smiled at his English Teacher. This caused Mr Lancer to laugh.

"I shall take that as a compliment." Laughed Mr Lancer. A comfortable silence befell the two before Danny spoke again.

"When we get out of this mess, I may even tell you Mr Lancer. Never know; you may even figure it out whilst we're here."

"I shall look forward to that conversation." Smiled Mr Lancer.

"Doesn't mean I'm going to make it easy for you though." Smirked Danny, causing Mr Lancer to chuckle.

"I would not have it any other way Danny. So do I get an answer?"

"Not right now. All that matters is that it's gone and we're all ok. The only thing we need to worry about is getting that shelter ready for tonight." Danny said, gesturing out to sea. Mr Lancer looked around and saw that the storm cloud was considerably closer than what it was the night before.

"I see your point. Come; let us go rouse the soldiers."

"Ok class," started Mr Lancer, once he got everyone awake and in a circle around the burned out campfire. "We have to build our shelter and we have very little time to do so. It has also come to my attention that we may need to do another water run, just in case this storm lasts longer than expected. So, I want Dash, Kwan and Craig to help Eric build the shelter, as he is the one who has some experience with camping activities. Tucker, Nathan and Mikey will remain here and use the last remaining hours to try and fix the beacon. I want everyone else on the water run, and I want everyone to stick together and no one, under any circumstances, is to stray from the path." He pointedly looked at Danny as he said this, earning a smile from the teen. Ten minutes later, everyone was ready to head out. At Danny's request, Sam was to lead the group to the stream, Danny at the back and Valerie going between them every now and again. The reason behind this is that Danny wanted his Sense on permanently, and he didn't want to continuously look round to make sure everyone was still there on the path and give something away. About half way there, Valerie dropped back and starting walking with Danny.

"See any lizards Ghost-Boy?" Asked Valerie, causing Danny to laugh.

"I never thought I would hear you call me that again Huntress." Answered Danny.

"Well when your eyes are sparkling like that, I couldn't resist." Countered Valerie.

"Touché." Chuckled Danny. He was about to say more when he heard a rustle from the bushes to their right. Panning his vision round, he could make out something large, long and thin making its way parallel to the group.

"Hey Val?" Asked Danny, getting Valerie's attention, but still looking to the side. "Make sure no one notices I'm gone. I'll be right back." Before Valerie could respond, she watched Danny creep into the bushes, and then silence.

_Damn that kid's good_, thought Valerie when she couldn't hear him anymore. _No wonder I could never get him. _A few moments later, Danny subtly walked out and re-joined the group.

"Call of nature?" Joked Valerie.

"Not quite." Said Danny. "Let's just say there is a very dazed anaconda slithering its way back home."

"An anaconda? Seriously?" Asked Valerie, not believing what Danny was saying.

"I wish I was joking." Said Danny, his voice dropping. "Nothing about this island makes sense. First the freaky current, then the energy shield and now all the tropical animals we've seen."

"I know it's risky, but can't you just fly up and take a look around?" Asked Valerie.

"I didn't tell you?" Valerie shook her head.

"Tell me what?"

"I recently discovered I have lost half of my powers." Said Danny, causing Valerie's jaw to drop. "I can't fly, become invisible, turn intangible or create ecto-energy. I've got my strength, speed, agility, Wail and ice powers left. That energy shield really messed me up."

"So you're a frosty Captain America?" Said Valerie, trying to lighten the mood. It worked as Danny began to laugh.

"I seriously never thought I would hear you call me that." Said Danny. "But I like it. It's better than Dipstick or Whelp anyway."

"Any time Cap," smirked Valerie, giving him a mock salute, but then she registered what Danny had said.

"Wait, what's a 'Wail'?" She asked.

"I'll explain later; we're here." They had just arrived at the stream and everyone began to fill up all the water bottles from the lifeboat; Sam walked up to the both of them as Danny turned off his Sense.

"Any trouble on the way?" She asked.

"Just a very large, scaly friend who tried to make an appearance, but he changed his mind."

"I just can't let you out of my sight without you doing something can I?" Sam asked jokingly.

"Nope, you can't." Smiled Danny, as he brought her into a hug and kissed her on the lips. "I think you should possibly change this."

"Maybe I will." Smirked Sam.

"Alright, I'm holding it right there," cut in Valerie, but smiling nonetheless. "We're all glad you're finally together, but we're about to be hit by a storm and are on the menu of numerous predators. Can you hold off just for a little bit?"

"Fair enough." Said Sam, pulling away reluctantly.

"I suppose you're right." Admitted Danny. "We should probably head back as soon as possible anyway. We may need to help the others finish off the shelter."

The journey back was much less eventful as they didn't come across any other animals, but Danny still had the feeling of being watched, but there was nothing within his Sense radius. Upon returning to the beach, they were all pleasantly surprised to see that the shelter was practically done. With Mr Lancer supervising, the four guys had managed to erect a decent looking shelter for them all to sit out the storm. Danny went with the rest of the group and placed all the water bottles outside of the shelter, to be moved in upon completion. He was about to walk away when he noticed the branches in the builders' hands.

"You got a problem Fenturd?" Dash asked viciously, as he followed Eric's instructions. When Danny didn't answer him, but continued to look at the branches, he started to drop what he was doing, but was stopped by Kwan.

"Everything alright Danny?" He asked. After the incident with the Komodo dragon, Kwan had started to see Danny in a new light; anyone who selflessly risked their lives by taking on a giant lizard was alright in his book. When he still didn't respond, Kwan waved his hand in front of his face, which got his attention.

"Sorry Kwan. I was miles off." Apologised Danny. "I'll be right back." With that, he left the confused duo, who went back to work as Danny walked off, his mind on the sharp ends of the branches. He made a beeline for Tucker and his group first.

"Hey Tuck." He said on reaching him. "How's the beacon going?"

"Surprisingly well." Said Tucker. "We've cleared out all the burnt parts and it's still in pretty good shape. It's looking good so far man."

"Excellent." Said Danny, clapping his best friend on the back. "Fantastic work. Listen; I'm going to disappear for a while, but I shouldn't be too long. I want you to keep an eye on everyone here."

"Why? Where are you going?" Asked Tucker.

"I just need to go into the jungle quickly. I won't be long, but can you tell Sam and Valerie where I've gone, and tell them not to worry?" He went to leave but Tucker pulled him back down.

"Hey, while you were off talking to Dash and Kwan, Valerie came over and said about you not having half your powers. Is that true?"

"Yeah. It is."

"And you didn't tell me, why?" Tucker asked him, slightly annoyed.

"To be perfectly honest, I forgot. What with the storm, the shelter, a manic monkey, a Komodo dragon and just earlier, a very large anaconda, I've not really had much time to discuss things with anyone." Tucker looked down at this.

"Sorry man. I know you've been busy and everything."

"You don't need to apologise Tuck. You've had enough on your plate with fixing the beacon. But don't worry about me. I'll be fine. I'll see you a bit later." With that, Danny looked around to see if anyone was watching him, before darting into the jungle; Tucker just staring after him.

_One of these days he's going to become full ghost,_ Tucker thought to himself, before getting up himself to look for Sam and Valerie. He found them sorting out vines and branches, so to make the guys' job a bit easier.

"Hey guys." Tucker said upon reaching them, giving Valerie a quick hug and a peck on the cheek.

"Hey Tuck." Said Valerie, reciprocating the affection.

"How's the beacon going?" Asked Sam, as she added several vine strips to the pile in front of them.

"Going great actually. When the storm passes over us, we should be able to actually start repairing it and broadcast a signal. But that's not why I'm here." Sam quickly scanned around the beach area and wasn't surprised to see that Danny wasn't there.

"It's got something to do with Danny hasn't it?" She asked angrily.

"What's that boy up to now?" Asked Valerie.

"I don't know. He just said that he had to go into the jungle and that he won't be gone long."

"That boy is seriously going to get himself killed all the way at the rate he's going." Muttered Valerie.

"Especially seen as he hasn't got half his powers anymore." Agreed Tucker, as he bent down to pick up a pile of branches, and headed off to the shelter, with the two girls not far behind him.

"What do you mean 'hasn't got half his powers anymore'?" Asked Sam, when she caught up with Tucker.

"You mean he didn't tell you either?" Asked Tucker exasperatedly.

"No. Enlighten me." Sam answered shortly, thinking about throwing her boot at Danny when she saw him next.

"He told Valerie first, so probably best she tells you." Sam then turned to Valerie.

"He told me that the energy shield did something to him when we went through it at sea." She said. Sam pondered this, and remembered when they had gone through it, Danny looked as if he was about to throw up. "Apparently, he can't fly, become invisible, turn intangible or create ecto-energy anymore. He's got his speed, strength, agility, and ice powers left. Oh, and something called a 'Wail', which he didn't explain about." When she mentioned Danny's wail, Sam and Tucker's faces dropped.

"What is it with this 'Wail' thing?" Valerie asked. Tucker and Sam looked at each other quickly, before turning back to Valerie.

"Danny's Ghostly Wail is his most powerful attack ever. He is both proud of it, and ashamed of it." Replied Tucker.

"Ashamed?" Questioned Valerie; Sam just sighed.

"Has he told you about his fight with his future self yet?" She asked.

"He touched upon it when we first got here, but didn't go into any details. I didn't press him because his eyes were full of sadness and pain when I asked him questions."

"There are still things he hasn't told us about when he faced Dan. He's still recovering from it." Murmured Tucker.

"Anyway," Sam started again, getting back on track. "Dan's most powerful attack was his Ghostly Wail; an attack which took him ten years to develop. With this attack, Dan could level cities and destroy countless enemies in a matter of seconds. It was this attack that Danny used to defeat Dan."

"So he's proud of it in the sense that he triumphed over his future self, but ashamed because of what it could be used for?" Asked Valerie, once she got over her shock.

"More or less." Confirmed Tucker.

"But there's something else." Said Sam, looking at Tucker who nodded.

"What do you mean?" Asked Valerie.

"Something happened on that day which has scarred him. Something so terrible that he clams up and refuses to speak about it. Even to us." Sam was about to say more when she felt something hit her cheek. Raising her hand, she wiped something wet off her cheek when something else hit her other cheek. She touched her face; looking at her fingers, she could see they were wet. Then a whole torrent of something started to hit her; looking up she saw very dark clouds as rain started to pour on them. The storm had started.

The entire group, minus Danny, helped Dash, Kwan, Craig and Eric to finish the shelter in record time. It was a simple dome shape, but it was sturdy enough and large enough to hold everyone comfortably. The only person they were missing was Danny, who had yet to return, which was causing everyone to become slightly agitated, especially Sam.

"Where the hell is he?" Asked Sam, more to herself than anyone else.

"Would that 'he' be me?" Came a voice from the entrance. The occupants of the shelter whipped their heads around and saw Danny's soaked head poking around the corner.

"_Shades of Darkness_!" Exclaimed Mr Lancer from the back of the shelter. "Where in blazes have you been?! The storm is getting more violent by the second!"

"I know, I know. I was doing something, but I'm back now. Well, I will be in a minute. I need to go put something away first." Before anyone could say anything, Danny's head disappeared, and the class watched him run over to the lifeboat and put various things under it; fiddling around with his shirt as he did with his back to them. In the few minutes it took him to do this, the rain had become harder, lightning was beginning to strength and the wind was picking up. Upon entering the shelter, the class saw that he was drenched to the bone, as he sat near the entrance where Sam, Tucker and Valerie were.

"Where the hell were you?" Sam whispered angrily, smacking his arm.

"I'll tell you later." Danny said.

"Like you were going to tell me about your powers?" Danny flinched at this.

"I'm sorry Sam. I was going to tell you, but things just keep happening and getting in the way." Danny said, looking at the storm outside, deep in thought. Sam saw the look on his face and held his hand; he returned the pressure but didn't look at her. Several hours passed and the storm showed no signs of easing, as the wind continued to batter their shelter. Everyone but Danny was looking inwards at everyone's scared faces, but his were fixed outside on the lifeboat. Everyone but Danny also flinched when another stroke of lightning lit up the sky, illuminating everyone's scared face. Danny on the other hand had tilted his head to the side, almost like he could hear something else in the howling wind. When lightning next struck, Danny flinched as well as the rest of the group, but for a completely different reason; Danny could have sworn he saw a big pair of yellow eyes at the treeline. With another flash, the eyes were gone. Now Danny was getting tense; he recognised those eyes. They were the eyes that were watching them last night. He made sure no one was watching him as he turned on his Sense and looked outside of the shelter. He saw one solitary animal patrolling around the beach, heading towards the back of the shelter. Danny stood, turning off his Sense, and quietly made his way to the back of the shelter. Everyone was silent as they saw the determined look on his face, mixed with fear. Danny's first mistake was turning off his Sense; in the time it had taken for Danny to reach the back of the shelter, the large animal had made its way round to the entrance. Hearing a low growl, Danny slowly turned and saw a large, black panther, leering at the entrance. The entire class, too afraid to speak, slowly edged towards the back as the panther stayed where it was. Then its yellow eyes landed on Sam, its mouth opening wide revealing sharp fangs, dripping with saliva. Danny saw all four of its legs tense and he knew what it was about to do. Only one thought was running through his mind.

_You don't get it, do you? I'm still here. I still exist. That means you still turn into me!_

Without thinking, Danny launched himself forwards at the large cat before it got an opportunity to pounce; causing them both to go tumbling out into the rain. Danny then pushed the cat outwards and stood up, wiping the sand from his eyes. Danny's second mistake was to look up to see if the rest of his class was ok. When he wasn't looking, the panther had regained its senses and barrelled straight into the unsuspecting teen, sending them crashing to the ground again. Fortunately for Danny's ghostly abilities, he was able to see clearly in the dark, as he saw the panther swipe for his face. He dodged to one side and rolled back onto his feet, and matched off against the cat; Danny circled around to make sure he was between the cat and his class. When the panther charged again, Danny was ready. He widened his stance, and just as the cat pounced, he leaned over backwards, the cat sailing over the top of him. Danny then grabbed its hind legs, spun it around and let go, causing it to fly in the opposite direction. Danny could just about make out an applause coming from the shelter, but he wasn't going to make the same mistake twice. He lifted up his shirt and brought one of two makeshift weapons he had made that evening: a small rock hammer. This time, he charged the panther who was still trying to get a grip on the wet sand; just as he got there, the panther was back on its legs and let loose a terrifying roar. Just as it finished, Danny stepped forward and hit the panther in the temple, knocking it unconscious instantly. Feeling proud that he had done it without killing the creature, he made his way back to the shelter, twirling his home-made hammer in his hand. That was Danny's third mistake. What he hadn't taken into account was the purpose for the panther's roar. Just as he got to the shelter, he had a feeling he was being watched; turning slowly, he saw three more panthers emerging from the treeline, all larger than the one he had just faced.

_Great, _thought Danny. _ Just my freaking luck. Just when it starts to go my way, something always comes along to mess with me. _ Danny turned to the occupants of the shelter.

"Stay absolutely quiet. Do _not _draw attention to yourselves." With that, he slowly walked out into the middle of the area, so to keep the panthers' attention on him and not on the shelter. The storm had gotten heavier now; Danny was struggling to keep his balance as he was buffeted by the gale-force winds. As Danny wiped wet hair from his vision, the first panther made its move; it charged forwards and Danny only just dodged it. Danny's fourth mistake was taking his eyes off the other two as he dodged the charging panther, only to be hit by another one. Quickly rolling away, he got to his feet and brandished his axe and went to swipe the attacking panther, but it dodged out of the way. Now the three jungle cats were circling with Danny at their centre. Danny realised with dread that these cats were smart and were working as a team to get their prey. The next flash of lightning signalled their attack, as all three converged on the teen at the same time. He easily dodged the first cat, barely dodged the second one, but the third one got lucky. Danny watched in horror as the third cat brought back its claws and slashed him across his chest, blood splashing on the sand, the screams from his class sounding clearly through the storm. That was the panthers' first and only mistake. Seeing red, Danny ignored the searing pain on his chest, and charged straight at the panthers, surprising them just as much as his class in the shelter. Running forwards, he brought his hammer down and caved in the first panther's head, killing it instantly whilst feinting towards the one in front of him, but actually jumping over it and hitting the panther behind it; it met the same quick fate as the first panther. However this time, as Danny ripped the hammer out, its head got lodged in the panther. Tossing the worthless handle aside, Danny reached into his waistband again and brought out a make shift dagger; a flint rock as the blade. He turned around just in time as the final panther, enraged by the death of its comrades, launch itself at the teen. It hit Danny head on, pushing him to the ground with it on top. Danny then felt it stiffen; rolling it off of him, Danny saw his dagger up to the hilt embedded in the panther's chest. Panting, he got up slowly, the adrenaline starting to wear off as he began to feel the pain in his chest become acute, and starting to become drowsy from blood loss. He looked around at the carnage he had wrought in a matter of seconds, feeling sick to his stomach that he had actually killed a living thing. He staggered forwards and looked at all three of the dead animals at his feet when his nagging feeling returned. He had learned in the past couple of weeks to trust this nagging feeling, and knew something was immediately wrong. He didn't need to hear the scream from behind him to know what was happening; he only counted three downed panthers. Whirling around, he ripped the dagger out of the panther, took a second to aim, and threw it as hard as he could at the panther running for the shelter and its dwellers. All the time, praying to Clockwork that his aim was true, right before his vision turned black and collapsed to the sand.

**I should also have mentioned that I do not own anything Marvel related. Once again, I hope you enjoy it and continue to read and enjoy it for subsequent chapters to come. Until next time.**

**Lord Pugsy.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Hey everyone. Lord Pugsy here. I would like to apologise for the week late instalment of this story. Work had become manic and was stressing everyone out. That combined with massive writers block did not help the situation in the slightest. I do hope that this slightly longer chapter will be sufficient enough to make up for the lateness. Without further ado, here is the next chapter in A Phantom Marooned.**

Sam watched in horror as the panther Danny had initially taken care of picked itself up, and began running back towards their shelter, noticing that Danny was preoccupied with the other panthers. The panther's eyes lit up with another flash of lightning as the large jungle cat pounced into the air, claws extended and teeth bared. The occupants of the shelter screamed, only for it to come crashing down at their feet; a dagger hilt protruding from the back of its head. The entire group stood emotionless for a few moments, just staring down at the dead animal at their feet, not entirely sure what to do with themselves. That's when they remembered Danny.

"DANNY!" Shouted Sam and Tucker, as they raced out into the rain to find Danny lying unconscious on the sand, watching out for the downed panthers just in case they too got back up.

"Get him inside!" Shouted Tucker, taking one of Danny's arms as Sam got the other one. Careful not to injure the teen even more than he already was, they gently lifted him up and set him between them as they made their way back to the shelter. When they made it, they found that Valerie had cleared a space for them to set Danny down. Easing Danny down softly, and pulling his shirt off so they could tend to his wounds, the entire shelter took their first proper look at Danny's injuries; what they saw made their stomach's drop as they gasped at the sight before him. Bruises had already formed across Danny's abdomen, chest and neck from when he was tackled by the panthers, but the class' eyes were instantly drawn to the three large gashes across his chest, still trickling blood. Luckily for all those who knew Danny's secret identity, it was too dark to notice the flecks of green in his blood.

"Please tell me someone brought in the first-aid kit from the boat?" Asked Sam, getting everyone's attention off of Danny and onto her.

"Here it is." Said Star, coming forward with the kit in her hands. Giving her a smile of thanks, Sam knelt down next to Danny and got out everything she would need to help Danny. Faltering when she felt a ball of thread at the bottom of the kit, she turned to face the occupants of the shelter.

"Did anyone think to bring in some dry wood we use to make the fire?" She asked; Mr Lancer gestured towards the back of the shelter.

"I brought in a small bundle, thinking we may need some source of heat during the night. Would that suffice?"

"Perfect." Said Sam. "Who managed to get the campfire going in the first place?" She asked.

"I think it was Bradley and Craig who managed it." Said Tucker, gesturing to the two boys.

"Do you think you can make another one near the entrance?" Asked Sam. Before the boys got the opportunity to agree or disagree, Dash charged forwards.

"What makes you think we need a fire Manson?" He asked viciously. "Who put you in charge?" Sam was about to launch herself at Dash when a groan of pain came from the unconscious teen. Softening her mood, she turned back to Dash, who had been equally stilled by the noise.

"Listen here Dash. Everyone here is tired and scared. And I'm not taking charge; I'm simply stating what we need to do because no one else will." Sam said in a low tone, slightly unnerving the jock. He would have preferred it if she yelled at him.

"As for why we need a fire," Sam started again. "We need it for two reasons. First, I don't think anyone here wants to freeze to death tonight. Secondly, we need it for this." She reached down and picked up a sharp needle and gestured towards Danny.

"See those cuts in his chest? They are far too deep to be left alone. They need to be stitched up." Everyone flinched at this thought; Dash was silenced instantly as he warily stepped back from the Goth with the needle. Once she was sure no one was going to interrupt her, she turned back to Craig and Bradley.

"Would you guys start a fire please?" She asked them. They nodded silently and went to collect the wood from the back of the shelter at set to work.

Within ten minutes, they got a small fire going in the entrance of the shelter so not to run the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning. Sam first set to work on cleaning off the dried blood on Danny's chest, taking care to make sure there was no sand in the deep wounds. Realising that she couldn't put it off any longer, she picked up the needle and held it over the fire. Taking a deep breath, she turned to the rest the group who were watching with gross fascination.

"Anyone who has a weak stomach, look away now." Everyone but Dash, Kwan, Mr Lancer, Tucker and Valerie turned away; although when the needle first entered Danny's skin, both Dash and Kwan turned away.

"Tucker," started Sam. "I need you to get a bottle of water and wash away any blood every now and again. Val, I need you to be prepared to pin Danny down when he wakes up. He may not appreciate straight away what I'm doing." Nodding and preparing themselves, they looked on as Sam finished up the first gash and made a start on the second one.

_This is starting to become a habit Danny_, Sam thought to herself as she looked over Danny's body. Normally, she would take this opportunity to look at Danny's well-developed body from ghost hunting, but her eyes were only drawn to the multitude of scars covering Danny's torso; she recognised a few that she had stitched up before. Sam felt a wave of guilt when she noticed one on his arm which was as a result of her attacking him when she was being possessed by Undergrowth.

"You seem to be quite the expert Samantha." Said Mr Lancer, interrupting Sam's thoughts; when she said nothing, Mr Lancer continued. "Would I be right in assuming that this is in fact not the first time you have done this to Danny?" Only Tucker looked on in worry, as Valerie was just confused.

"I don't know what you mean Mr Lancer." Sam said weakly, causing Mr Lancer to chuckle.

"You two are genuinely perfect for each other. You are both as bad as each when it comes to lying." He said, causing Sam to blush heavily and Tucker and Valerie to laugh. "But I am going to tell you something which I told Danny when we arrived on this island. I am fully aware that there is something strange surrounding the four of you, but it is not my place to pry, even though the amount of scar tissue on Danny is frightening. All I am going to say to you is, while I understand that you will want to keep certain truths hidden from myself and your peers, I do ask that you do not lie to me." With that, he stood up and walked back to watch over the rest of the group, leaving three confused teens in his wake.

"Damn he's cool." Muttered Tucker, as he watched his English teacher walk off.

"Yeah." Agreed Sam, finishing off the second cut and making start on the third and final cut. "Just a shame it took a disaster for us to realise." Tucker laughed and turned to look at Valerie, only to see that she was sat in silence with a horrified look on her face.

"Is it true Sam?" She asked seriously.

"Is what true?" Sam asked confused.

"Have you really had to do this multiple times?"

"Yeah, I have." Said a solemn Sam. "I think this will be the eighth time I've stitched him up after a fight."

"Have you ever had to stitch him up after a fight with me?" She asked, already knowing the answer. When Sam didn't reply, Valerie knew she had.

"Which one did I do?" Still no answer from the teen. "Sam, show me which one was me." Realising that Sam wasn't going to do it, Tucker slowly brought out Danny's left arm to show a long scar running down his side, causing Valerie to gasp in horror, tears springing from her eyes.

"I never knew." She murmured as the tears began to fall, causing Tucker to grab her hand.

"Don't go there Val. Danny never once held you responsible. He has gotten far more scars off of Skulker and Vlad than anyone else. Even Sam and I have given him one each." Tucker said, kissing her softly on the cheek. This caused Valerie to look up.

"Seriously?" She asked; Tucker nodded.

"The thick one on his arm is where Sam attacked him when she was Undergrowth's Caretaker. And there is one on his back where I accidentally shot him in the back with a Fenton Bazooka." Valerie couldn't help but laugh through her tears; Sam joining in a few moments later when she rounded off the last stitch.

"It's nice to hear you're all laughing." Said Danny, cutting through their laughing, chuckling as he did.

"How long have you been awake?" Asked Sam incredulously, as she took the bottle of water off of Tucker and cleaned off the blood.

"Since Mr Lancer left." Danny said calmly, despite having just been sewn back together.

"But you didn't even flinch when Sam was sticking a needle into you." Said Valerie, her jaw dropping for a second time.

"I've been punched by Pariah Dark, electrocuted by Walker and almost killed by Blood Blossoms. A few stitches are nothing." Danny chuckled slightly, careful not to pull any of his new stitches.

"Blood Blossoms?" Queried Valerie.

"Not something I like to remember." Muttered Danny, remembering how awful they had made him feel.

"Hey. I was the one who had to eat them." Stated Tucker, causing Sam and Danny to laugh.

"And if I remember correctly, I bought you three Mega Nasty Burgers afterwards." Countered Danny, as Sam began to wrap bandages around his torso.

"They were delicious." Said Tucker, as he reminisced about the three large burgers he ate that day.

"Anyway," continued Danny. "Blood Blossoms are a red flower that are fatal to ghosts. Fortunately, because I am only half-ghost, I can last a little bit longer around their presence." Tucker coughed conspicuously.

"This gave Tucker and Sam enough time to get rid of them for me." Finished Danny, chuckling again.

"Flowers like that really exist?" Asked a shocked Valerie.

"Unfortunately yes." Muttered Sam, she too remembering what the flowers had done to Danny, cutting off the last bandage.

"Now if it's alright with you, I'm going to get some rest." Said Danny. "I want to be wide awake for when the bombardment of questions hit me, which I know there will be." Nodding in agreement, the other three set themselves beside Danny and slowly fell to asleep, completely oblivious to the furtive glances of their classmates as they tried to figure out the mystery that is Danny Fenton.

The survivors had been lucky; the storm had passed during the night, leaving a cloudless blue sky above them. Mr Lancer was the first to leave their battered shelter, casting a wary look over the dead panthers on the beach, still in disbelief that one teenager was capable of such skill, and such violence.

_I am definitely going to need to have another conversation with Danny Fenton_, Mr Lancer thought to himself.

"It is alright class." Announced Mr Lancer, facing the growing crowd in the entrance of the shelter. "No need to be afraid anymore. There is nothing else out here."

"Pfft." Scoffed Dash, striding forwards into the morning light. "Who says we're afraid?" Mr Lancer sighed in annoyance, but said nothing and waited for the rest of the class to follow Dash's lead, spreading slightly apart from one another.

"Wow, that's bright out here." Declared a voice from behind the class. They all turned to see Danny being supported between Sam and Tucker, ample bandages wound tight around his chest, as Valerie walked with them, the beacon in her hands. Truth be told, Danny could have walked out easily by himself, but Sam pointed out that they had to keep up appearances. The class was already going to question Danny on his fighting prowess; they didn't want to add super-regenerative healing powers to the list. His cuts, with thanks to Sam's stitching, had practically healed overnight. All that was left were some bruises and slight redness underneath the bandages.

"So, how's the boat?" Danny asked nervously, growing increasingly uncomfortable under his class' stares. Fortunately, Mr Lancer was on hand to save him from the looks, but with bad news.

"I would give you an answer Danny, but unfortunately the boat is gone." Before anyone could speak, Star spoke up from where she was stood next to some uprooted trees.

"Wait, I think I see it in the jungle." She said, straining her eyes.

"The storm must have blown it in there." Said Mikey.

"Yeah, maybe." Said an unconvinced Star, still looking for the trees.

"What's wrong Star? Is it smashed up?" Asked Valerie.

"No, nothing like that."

"Well spit it out girl." Stated an annoyed Paulina, trying to get knots and tangles out of her hair, failing miserably.

"It's probably nothing. I just thought our boat was red, not green."

As soon as Star said this, the entire class ran forwards through the trees, with Sam and Danny walking behind at a much slower pace so not to arouse suspicion. Upon their late arrival, they saw the rest of their class crowded around a tree; a lifeboat hanging precariously from its lower branches. True to Star's word, the boat in front of them was half green, compared to their half red boat.

"Is that one of ours?" Asked Nathan, standing shocked next to his sister.

"I do believe it is Nathan." Stated Mr Lancer, edging closer to get a better look at the boat. "Yes, it definitely is. It has the same logo from our cruise ship."

"Umm, Mr Lancer?" Asked Tucker nervously. "You may want to take a few steps back. We don't know how strong those branches are." Realising that he was right, Mr Lancer stepped away from the tree and stood by his students.

"Wait, does this mean that there could be other survivors from the ship?" Asked Kwan.

"Looks like it." Said Chelsea.

"But where could they be? We haven't seen anyone since we arrived. We've been here for over a week." Said Alice.

"You are correct Alice, but bear in mind. We cannot be certain the exact size of this island." Said Mr Lancer. "There has been little exploring on our part, with the beach and a stream being our only landmarks." Whilst Mr Lancer continued to talk, Tucker turned to Danny, whose eyes were transfixed on the hull of the boat.

"What are you thinking?" He asked.

"I was just thinking," started Danny. "How much power do you reckon you can get out of the beacon?"

"Not sure. Maybe a few hours at most. Why?"

"What are the chances that the hull of that boat protected its beacon as well as ours did?" Tucker looked at the hull and put two and two together, smiling as he did.

"Only one way to find out." He moved over to Valerie and Sam and told them his idea; nodding, they walked over and faced the class.

"You guys may want to move back a bit." Said Tucker, as he, Valerie and Sam began climbing the tree the boat was situated in until they were right above it; the entire class looking on with shock, not entirely sure if they should be doing or saying something. They began to get scared when they saw the trio hanging from the branches and started to rock the boat back and forth. Before too long, the lifeboat came crashing out of the tree, rolling up to where the class was standing, the trio landing softly behind it.

"What the hell do you think you're playing out?!" Shouted Dash, getting control of his breath due to being scared that the boat was going to crush him. Without saying a word, Tucker climbed on board and headed for the hull of the boat, disappearing from view for a minute. When he stood back up, the class saw that he had something in his hands. Climbing down one-handed, he walked across to Dash and shoved the object right up to the jock's face; it was a second signal beacon.

"This," he said, showing no fear in the slightest at the boy who had bullied him and his friends for many years. "Is a signal beacon. Very much like our one back at the beach. We can use any salvageable parts from this one to help fix our one. This way, the signal will be stronger and last for much longer, potentially saving our lives. Anything else you would like to ask?" When Dash had nothing to say, Tucker walked back over to where Danny was stifling his laughter, looks of praise on nearly every member of his classmates' faces, including Mr Lancer's.

_I get attacked by Manson, terrified by Fenton, and now stood up to by Foley. I may need to bust some heads so people don't think I've gone soft, _Dash thought to himself.

"Alright class," started Mr Lancer, noticing the angered look on Dash's face. "We will head back to the beach so Tucker can make a start on the beacon, and then we can organise search parties to find our boat." Walking back to the beach, Tucker decided to walk back behind everyone with Sam and Danny, who was still 'helping' Danny to walk.

"Now I know why you guys yelled at Dash. That was amazing." Whispered Tucker excitedly. Sam huffed but couldn't stop the smile creeping onto her voice.

"We don't yell at him because it's amazing, although that is a fortunate side effect. We yell at him because he still thinks we're at school and that the social hierarchy still exists." She said.

"Very true." Said Valerie, looking down. "I've lost count how many times he's been scared witless whilst we've been here, and then tried to pawn it off."

"Haven't we all been scared witless since we've been here?" Asked Danny, becoming quiet at remembering that he only had half his powers.

"Well yeah, but all for very different reasons." Said Tucker, remembering also the reasons why Danny was scared.

"C'mon," said Sam, taking Danny's hand and giving it a reassuring squeeze. "If we don't hurry up, they'll leave us behind." Arriving back at the beach, the group of four saw the rest of their class scouring the area for their missing lifeboat.

"Anyone think to look behind the shelter?" Danny asked jokingly, causing the other three to smile. By chance, Michelle and Chelsea heard the question and thought they might as well check, and lo and behold; behind their makeshift shelter was their lifeboat. Well, it was most of their boat. It had been cracked completely down the middle, with one half mostly buried in the sand and the other in large pieces.

"You were right Danny!" Shouted Michelle. "It was behind the shelter. But we have a serious problem!"

"What is wrong with the boat girls?" Asked Mr Lancer, making his way towards where they were stood.

"The boat is here, but it's smashed to pieces!" Chelsea shouted back. Upon hearing this, everyone stopped still, letting this news sink in. If the beacon was useless, they had no hope left.

Without really thinking about it, the entire class and migrated towards where they build a campfire in the evenings; all silent as they wallowed in deep feelings of helplessness and defeat. Everyone but Danny was scared about how they were going to get home if the beacon failed them; Danny knew deep down that if they needed to escape, they could. At the sacrifice of his secret identity, Danny knew he could create a boat made of ecto-ice large enough for everyone to fit in and could use his Ghostly Wail as a form of propulsion; no secret was worth the lives of seventeen people. But now that there was the possibility of other survivors being on the island, Danny knew he couldn't leave them here whilst they escaped with their lives; his obsession of saving people was far too strong. The idea of leaving the likes of Robert Wilkinson and his grandson Billy on this island with the amount of dangerous predators inhabiting it didn't sit well with Danny.

"We need to search for the survivors." Stated Danny all of a sudden, gaining everyone's attention.

"What are you talking about Danny?" Asked a frightened Mikey.

"It's far too dangerous in there to go risking our lives for people we don't know." Argued Star.

"Star's right. If we go in there, we'll be ripped to shreds and eaten." Said Kwan, still scared about what happened with the Komodo dragon the other day.

"Yes, we could be killed and eaten." Reasoned Danny. "But so could they. Can any of you honestly tell me right here and now that you would be able to sleep at night, knowing that you left innocent people here to die? And die in what's likely to be a very grisly death." When silence ensued, Danny knew he had won; then he caught his teacher's eye.

"While I do admire your courage greatly Danny, I really do, but I cannot in good faith send anybody here into that jungle." Said Mr Lancer, looking sadly at the teen before him. "As Kwan so elegantly put it, anyone going in there could quite possibly be 'ripped to shreds and eaten'." That's when he noticed a peculiar grin beginning to spread across Danny's face.

"Ah, but of course," Mr Lancer started again, smiling too. "Do I assume correctly that you have already thought of a solution?" Without saying a word, Danny walked off to where their wrecked lifeboat was behind the shelter. A few minutes later, Danny returned, his arms filled with a range of objects. Walking up to the rest of his class, he dropped them all in front of them; the class looked on in shock and curiosity; in front of them was an assortment of makeshift spears, daggers, crude pickaxes and hammers.

"So this was what you were up to when you were in the jungle for all those hours before the storm." Said Sam, picking up one of the daggers and admiring Danny's handy-work.

"They're amazing." Said Valerie, picking up one of the spears and testing it out with a few small, short thrusts.

"Thanks." Said Danny, rubbing his neck in embarrassment as more of his classmates ventured forwards to choose their weapon of choice, equally astounded by Danny's craftsmanship. Even Dash couldn't help himself as he knelt down to pick up one of the pickaxes, twirling it around in his hands, liking the feel of it.

"I just thought, after the Komodo incident and a seriously crazed up baboon, that we need to be prepared for any situation," continued Danny. "Turns out I was right as we got attacked by a group of panthers last night. So Mr Lancer. Would I be right in assuming that we are sufficiently equipped to go looking for survivors?" He tried as hard as he could not to laugh at his teacher's shocked and bemused look on his face.

"Just when I think I am close to figuring you out Daniel Fenton, you go ahead and pull a stunt like this." He said, gesturing towards the makeshift weapons. "Despite abhorring the use of violence, I must acquiesce to your logic of thinking. How do you propose we prepare ourselves for this venture of yours?" Mr Lancer asked, with just a hint of sarcasm in his voice, with only Danny picking up on it.

"Well, as you saw last night, I know how to handle a weapon," Danny started, rubbing his neck uncomfortably. "And I'm pretty sure I can train everybody here, with the help of Sam, Tucker and Valerie." Having heard enough, Dash strode forwards, pickaxe still in hand and shoved it right in front of Danny's face.

_Great, _thought Danny. _Here we go. Dash's poor attempt at trying to be top dog again._

"Fair play to you Fenton. We know you can handle a weapon after we saw you deal with those panthers last night; even though a weakling like you shouldn't be able to do it." He said harshly, slightly perturbed at the fact that Danny remained calm at being threatened with a pickaxe. "And I get how Valerie could handle a weapon as she's a fitness freak. But do you really expect us to believe that a girl like Manson and a wimp like Foley have any skill when it comes to using these things?" Before anyone could speak up in protest, Danny having seen Mr Lancer, Sam and Valerie begin to charge forwards, Danny raised his hand, giving Dash a hard, steely look.

"Valerie, throw me a spear." He said calmly. Looking slightly confused, Valerie complied and tossed Danny a spear, catching it expertly. Turning from Dash, Danny threw it semi-hard so not to break it at the closest tree, impaling its trunk dead-centre.

"Sam, throw a dagger and pierce the tree six inches above my spear. Tucker, throw a spear and pierce the tree six inches above that." Realising what Danny was trying to do, Sam and Tucker picked up their weapons and threw them at the same tree. Following Danny's request, they hit their targets perfectly, much to everyone's surprise; especially Dash's. Walking back up to Dash, still too flustered to formulate a sentence, Danny spoke, but to everyone.

"Now I know I scared a lot of you when we first got here, and I deeply regret it. Especially to you Paulina." Danny said, turning to the Hispanic teen, having just enough courage not to look away. "I'm sorry I yelled at you Paulina. Really I am. You were picking arguments because you were scared, and I don't blame you. I was just trying to make a point." He then turned back to Dash.

"You don't have to like me or my friends Dash. And I'm pretty sure that when we get out of here, things will go right back to how they use to be. But we are your best chance at surviving until that becomes a reality. So right here, right now, we're going to have a temporary truce. For everyone's sake." With this, Danny stuck out his hand, waiting for the jock to shake it. Thinking about it, Dash extended his own hand and shook Danny's hand, surprised by the strength behind it. This caused everyone to smile, thinking that on the tenth day of being stranded, life on the desolate island that had become their short-term home, may actually start to become bearable. Then came a gunshot.

**Once again, I am sorry for the delay; I hope you enjoyed it nonetheless. I will of course endeavour to get another chapter in before Christmas. Possibly even two. Until next time.**

**Lord Pugsy.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Hey everyone. Lord Pugsy here. Here is the next instalment of A Phantom Marooned, and I am sorry to say that I doubt there will be another chapter before Christmas, but I will of course endeavour to get one in before the New Year. Once again, I only own the story, not Danny & Co.**

Not fully believing what they had just heard, the entire class remained statue-like, hoping that the noise came from the wind or some animal banging into the lifeboat they left in the jungle. When all was quiet, the group allowed themselves to relax a little bit; looking at each other, they couldn't help but emit a small laugh at how collectively scared they had just become. Then another shot rang through the air. Then another, and another, and another.

"Get to the shelter!" Shouted Danny. As they all began rushing to the shelter, Danny decided to extend his faith and turned to Dash.

"Dash!" Shouted Danny. "Get everyone in the shelter. Keep them quiet, keep them low, and keep them calm." Appealing to his ego, Dash took to his task with zeal as he was given a leadership role and began ushering his classmates and teacher into their shelter. Making sure everyone was in the shelter and safe, Danny turned to leave when someone grabbed his arm. Expecting Dash, Danny was surprised to see Sam holding his arm; a determined look in her eye.

"Danny," she started. "Please –." Danny cut her off.

"Sam, don't worry. I'm not going to do anything stupid. I'm well aware that, even though I am half dead, a bullet to the head will make me a fully dead. I may be clueless, but I'm not crazy enough to go up against a gun with a stick."

"Danny, I –." Sam started again, but Danny spoke over her.

"I won't go far. Just up to the treeline; you will still be able to see me." Danny said.

"I was only going to say be careful. I don't want to have to stitch you up again so soon." Sam finally got out.

"Oh." Said Danny, rubbing his neck embarrassingly, only to duck down when another series of shots rang through the night, taking Sam down with him.

"Five minutes." Said Sam, slightly shaken. Then, kissing him fully on the mouth first, she ducked into the shelter, leaving Danny feeling slightly giddy at the contact.

_I could really get used to that_ thought Danny, smiling to himself. Another round of bullets broke through Danny's musings, causing him to duck once again; still crouched, he made for the treeline. Looking inwards, Danny turned on his Sense and stretched it as far as he could. He managed to stretch it to about three hundred feet before his sight began to turn slightly fuzzy and his hearing began to sound like static. He could make out various animals running and flying through the jungle, clearly startled by the noises, but there was no sign of any humans. After about a minute, and to no avail, Danny concentrated hard on his ice core and powered up his Sense as much as humanly (and ghostly) possible, stretching it to three thousand feet. At this distance, the static noise was unbearable and his sight virtually zero. All he could see were the orange auras of the various animals which had passed through the surrounding area; the jungle had all but disappeared from Danny's sight. Knowing he couldn't keep this up for long, Danny scanned the entire jungle, when he finally saw them: a faint blue aura was flickering at the edge of his range. As severe nausea began to set in, followed by horrific stomach cramps, two more blue auras appeared in Danny's sight, carrying something blue between them. Danny's last Sense image was the four blue auras moving away from him, before keeling over and throwing up what little there was in his stomach.

In the short time it took Danny to walk back to the shelter, Danny was overcoming his nausea, but the taste of sick was still strong. He gestured for water and Sam, who had waited in the entrance so that she could keep an eye on Danny, threw him one. He swirled some water around in his mouth and spat it out before Sam came up to him.

"You alright Danny?" Asked Sam, giving him a once over.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He said, still a little bit shaky. "I've just never stretched my Sense that far before."

"Did you manage to see anything out there?"

"Yeah. About a hundred metres out; towards the stream where we get our water. There were three of them." Danny slowly trailed off, which wasn't missed by Sam.

"What aren't you telling me?" She asked.

"There were actually four. But one was being dragged away." This caused Sam to gasp, bringing her hand up to her mouth.

"They weren't dead Sam." Hushed Danny, bringing her into a hug. "They were still emitting a strong aura; I think they were just unconscious." Once she had controlled herself, Danny took her hand and led her back into the shelter. Seeing his arrival, the whole shelter burst into a frenzy of questions about what was happening, were those gunshots and are there any other people on the island.

_Well, _thought Danny. _At least they're not asking me about the panthers anymore._

"Yes, it appears that there are other people on this island." Started Danny, the looks in his classmates' faces lighting up. "And yes, those really were gunshots." The hopeful faces fell into ones of panic and fear.

"Look," said Danny, hoping to prevent another panic. "There's nothing we can do for now, except to remain calm and most importantly, quiet." As he said this, he sat himself down next to Sam, Tucker and Valerie, and got himself comfortable as fatigue began to set in. Before too soon, everyone began to follow suit. Just as people began to get comfortable, Danny said something which put them back on edge.

"No fire tonight." He stated bluntly.

"Why ever not Danny?" Asked Mr Lancer, who had been looking forward to the fire's warmth and light in the eerily dark and cold evenings on the island.

"Because Mr Lancer," Danny started simply. "We don't know if the people with the guns are friendlies."

It may have only been mid-afternoon when they rested, but it was in the early hours of the next day when they finally emerged from their shelter; the stress and fear of the previous day taking a toll on their already weakened state of mind. When everyone had finally vacated the shelter and sat around in a circle, Danny spoke what everyone was thinking, but not willing to say it for themselves.

"We need to head into the jungle." He said, looking around at everyone. "I know no one wants to, but we need to. We are running dangerously low on water again, as well as food."

"What's the point?" Alice asked pessimistically.

"Yeah Fenton," agreed Dash, much to everyone's surprise. "They've got guns and we've got sticks. We'd be cut down instantly." To see and hear Dash lose all bravado really hit home for everyone sat around Danny.

"Would I be correct in assuming that you would still like us to train with the weapons you created Danny?" Asked an especially despondent Mr Lancer.

"Yes, I still do." Said Danny, bluntly.

"What's the point?" Asked Eric, reiterating what Alice said.

"Because I would rather go up against a gun, which has limited ammo by the way, with a stick than nothing at all. Besides, I'm pretty sure the deadly animals that we will also encounter don't have guns." This struck a chord with everyone as they remembered the night when Danny fought off the panthers, and how useless they felt not being able to do anything.

"What did you have in mind Danny?" Asked Mr Lancer.

"Well, first of all," started Danny, gesturing towards the pile of weapons still on the ground around the campfire. "Everybody grab a weapon. We've got work to do."

After about six hours of non-stop training, despite Danny's pessimistic expectations, the class were excelling under the circumstances. After an hour and a half with Danny, everyone was managing to keep a hold of their weapons without dropping them. After a few hours with Sam and Tucker, those with spears were able to throw them near-perfectly straight; those who were using daggers weren't too far behind them. After the fifth hour, they could throw them straight with varying levels of strength. Whilst they were handling the dagger and spear users, Valerie and Danny were training the ones who wanted to be able to use the hammers and pickaxes. Danny would teach them the basic moves and they would then spar with Valerie; Danny didn't want to run the risk of his ghostly strength seeping through and potentially breaking his classmates' limbs. It was also due to the fact that Dash was training with a hammer, and Danny didn't want to run the risk of his ego getting in the way of the temporary truce they had made before the first gunshot was heard. After two hours with them, Dash, Kwan, Craig and Eric were competent enough to wield their weapons effectively, despite Valerie beating them every time. Standing off to one side whilst their classmates rested, Danny, Sam, Tucker and Valerie looked on like proud teachers.

"I think we've actually managed to accomplish something here." Danny said to his friends, smiling as he looked at his class.

"Yeah," agreed Sam, taking Danny's hand. "It was a good idea to train them Danny. Now we may actually stand a chance."

"You don't have to sound too surprised." Said Danny, feigning hurt. "I sometimes have great ideas, just not very often. Kind of why I depend on you three when I fight a new ghost."

"Oh you mean like when we fought that ghost about a month ago? The one that had two heads?" Asked Valerie.

"Oh I remember him," chimed in Tucker. "We had to split up and distract him from both sides whilst Danny flew in from above. How many times did he throw you into a building?"

"It was only a couple of times." Defended Danny.

"Nuh uh." Laughed Sam. "As I remember, it was about four times per head."

"Whose side are you on anyway?" Asked Danny, turning to her, a wide smile on her face. Leaning over, she gave him a quick peck on the lips.

"Haven't decided yet." She said, causing all four of them to laugh.

"Anyway," started Danny, trying to change the subject. "How was training Paulina with a dagger." When Sam stifled a laugh, Danny turned to Tucker.

"Well, she was being mouthy to begin with." Said Tucker.

"So she was being herself?" Asked Valerie.

"Pretty much." Confirmed Tucker. "But then Sam did something I will never forget. She threw a dagger at her."

"You did what?" Asked Danny and Valerie, shocked.

"I didn't throw it at her specifically, just at her dagger." Sam said simply, but continued under Danny's glare.

"She was messing around with her dagger saying that cheerleaders have perfect hand-eye coordination. She kept throwing it up and down and nearly took out Star's eye. Fortunately, she missed, but I didn't."

"She struck it straight out of her hands. It was brilliant." Said Tucker, earning a light smack on the arm by Valerie.

"Is Star ok?" Valerie asked.

"Yeah, she's fine." Said Sam. "Spent the rest of training far away from Paulina though. I think Paulina is afraid of me now."

"As if she wasn't already." Smirked Danny, also earning a light smack on his arm. Giving her an apologetic smile, Danny saw Mr Lancer gesturing to him from the other side of the campfire.

"I'll be right back." Said Danny, giving Sam a quick hug. As he made his way over, Danny couldn't help but notice two daggers at Mr Lancer's hips.

"Looking dangerous Mr Lancer." Said Danny, smiling at his English teacher.

"As a teacher, I take it upon myself to learn as many new skills as possible Danny." Responded Mr Lancer, reciprocating the smile. "Although, I will not be making a habit of using them, if you do not mind?"

"I wouldn't have it any other way. I don't want people to know the feeling of killing an animal. Even if it is in self-defence." Mr Lancer knew Danny's underlying thoughts though.

"Or killing another person?" Asked Mr Lancer.

"Yeah." Muttered Danny, rubbing the back of his neck. Noticing that Danny wanted to get off the possibility of killing a fellow human being, as far as Mr Lancer was concerned, he got back to what he wanted to ask Danny in the first place.

"So Danny, by my calculations, we have approximately two and a half hours before the sun begins to set. When do you propose we venture into the jungle?"

"As soon as possible really." Danny said. "We don't want to be in that jungle any longer than we need to be. But here's the part you won't like." Danny added ominously.

"Why do I get the distinct impression that this is where you declare that you will be going in there alone to hunt for these gun-wielding individuals?" He asked seriously.

"Well this time, you will be pleasantly surprised." Chuckled Danny.

"Oh?" Asked Mr Lancer, confused.

"I don't want to go in alone, but I do want to split into two groups. One to collect the food and one to collect the water. That way, we can get both done and no time is wasted unnecessarily."

"Have you already devised a plan of action?"

"Collecting food will be easier and less dangerous as the fruit-bearing trees are much closer to the beach. I want to take Valerie, Kwan, Bradley and Alice to go and collect water. I want Dash with the food collectors, and you to look out for Tucker and Mikey as they finish off the beacon."

"Your logic appears to be undeniable, but you will forgive me if I still have reservations about splitting everyone up."

"Mr Lancer," started Danny, realising he was going to have share some details with his teacher. "I know just how dangerous it can be. Look, I trust you enough now to tell you some more things about me. But please, no questions. Ok?" Mr Lancer paused briefly, before nodding slowly. Taking a deep breath, Danny continued.

"As you can probably tell from the amount of scars I have, I get into a lot of fights. As you are also aware, I know how to handle myself in a fight. And yes, Sam, Tucker and Valerie are with me when this happens. I do everything in my power to help and protect people, and I like to think I'm good at doing that. And I can promise you, I will do everything I can to protect them." Sighing deeply, Mr Lancer thought about what Danny just said.

"_To be persuasive we must be believable; to be believable we must be credible; to be credible we must be truthful_." He said philosophically; when he saw the confused look on the teen's face, he chuckled mirthfully.

"Edward R Murrow said it. He was a highly successful journalist during the Second World War. Anyway, this relates to you because I know you to be telling the truth. Due to the fact that I know you are telling the truth, your argument has a high level of credibility. Ultimately, because your argument is truthful, I believe you when you say you will do everything within your power to protect your peers." With this, he stuck out his hand to the teen; when Danny shook his hand, Mr Lancer pulled him in closer and spoke in a serious tone.

"Thirty minutes Daniel. You are to return to this beach and in my sight in thirty minutes, ok?"

"Deal." Smiled Danny. With this, Danny walked back over to the campfire, gesturing over towards Sam, Tucker and Valerie to join him.

"OK everyone," Danny declared to everyone, getting their attention. "We have a little over a couple of hours before sunset, and no one wants to be in that jungle after dark." He left it a moment so everyone could ponder what he just said before continuing.

"Firstly, Tucker and Mikey will remain on the beach to finish off the beacon. Secondly, I will be taking Valerie, Kwan, Bradley and Alice to collect the water. Dash, you'll be leading the rest to collect the food. We need this done within thirty minutes to make sure everyone gets back here. We still don't know who's out there."

With everyone's task in mind, everyone ventured into the jungle, splitting off when they came to their designated routes. Allowing Bradley and Alice to take the lead to the stream, Valerie took this chance to speak to Danny.

"You do realise you're taking a fairly big risk in giving Dash some responsibility here don't you?" She asked him.

"Yeah," he answered. "I know. That's why I sent Sam to keep a close eye on him. Though to be honest, I don't think he will be giving us any more headaches whilst we're here."

"What makes you say that?"

"He may not be the smartest, but he's clever enough to know that arguing won't get us anyway. Not anymore."

"Do you trust him?" She asked in a more serious tone.

"With my life? No." Chuckled Danny. "There's only three people and three ghosts I trust with my life. Well, four people now." He added with a smile in Valerie's direction, causing her to beam. She had still been anxious about having hunted him for all that time and didn't think she deserved his forgiveness just yet.

"I take it Jazz is one of the people you trust?" She asked.

"If you had asked me in my first year of being a Halfa, I would have said no; especially as she had sucked me into the Fenton Thermos half a dozen times. But now, I do."

"And the ghosts?" Valerie asked, just about coming around to the idea of there being good ghosts.

"That would be Clockwork, Frostbite and Dani."

"I don't think you've told me about Frostbite. Who is he?"

"I'll tell you later. We're here now and we don't want Alice and Bradley to listen in."

"Fair point." Within fifteen minutes, they had filled up all the water bottles, and as they turned to leave, something caught Danny's eyes in the undergrowth near the entrance to the game trail. Walking over to it and crouching down, Danny pulled out about a dozen shell casings; all different sizes. Turning to face Valerie, Alice and Bradley scared faces.

"We need to leave right now."

Sprinting through the jungle, they burst out onto the beach to find everyone else had already returned. Leaving Alice and Bradley to catch their breath, Danny and Valerie made a beeline for Tucker and Mikey.

"Guys, please tell us some good news." Begged Danny, still slightly wide-eyed.

"Would good news be that the combined technological intelligence of both myself and Mikey has resulted in a fixed beacon?"

"You did it?" Asked Danny hopefully.

"You can bet your desert island butt that we fixed it. We are officially transmitting as of about five minutes ago."

"I knew you could do it." Exclaimed Danny, bringing his best friend into a hug. When he pulled away, Valerie took her opportunity to pounce on him and kiss him fully on the mouth. Danny turned to slightly bashful Mikey.

"I hope you don't mind if I just give you a handshake?"

"I think that would b...be best." Stuttered Mikey, still embarrassed by the show of affection being displayed by Valerie and Tucker. For the first time in a few days, Danny started feeling hopeful at their predicament; then he put his hand in his pocket and felt the shell casings, bringing reality crashing down around him.

"Dude," started Danny, interrupting the couple in front of him. "How long until the signal is picked up?"

"I don't know. A few days maybe. Then another few days for the signal to be triangulated. Then probably a day to actually get here. I'm going to guess around a week until we're gone." Danny's heart sank at this, which Tucker picked up on.

"What's wrong?" Danny pulled the casings out of his pocket and passed them over to him.

"They've got between eight and twelve different types of guns Tuck. And from the amount of gun shots we heard last night, a shed load of ammo."

Later that evening, Danny got everyone around the campfire area, tossing all the shells on the ground.

"We're in big trouble guys. Even though Tucker and Mikey have done the unthinkable and fixed the beacon, it's still going to be around a week until we leave this place. Until that time, we've got people with guns running around out there who could very well know that we're here."

"What are you suggesting Fenton?" Asked Dash, not unkindly.

"For the next week, we need to be hyper-vigilant. We never go anywhere by ourselves, and we try and actively avoid the jungle as much as possible."

"That seems sensible." Said Mr Lancer, picking up one of the casings and inspecting it. Everyone else treated them like land-mines, not daring to touch them.

"Is there anything else?" Danny asked, turning to Sam, Tucker and Valerie.

"We should probably set up a watch rotation at night. We don't want to be snuck up on whilst we're all asleep." Suggested Sam.

"True that." Said Tucker. "We don't want gun-wielding psychopaths getting the better of us."

"Now I don't know about you lads," came a voice from behind them, followed by the clicking of metal. "But I feel mildly insulted by that." The class slowly turned around to see six men in army fatigues standing at the edge of the treeline. They were all holding guns, ranging from hand guns to shot guns to assault rifles; all pointing at the class' heads. The one who had spoken stepped forward from the line, assault rifle in hand and gave the group a cold, hard stare as the other five men began to circle around the campfire, like sharks preparing to attack their prey.

"If you want to see another day, you're going to follow me and my boys here." With that, he gestured with barrel of his gun for the group to start walking into the jungle. As the only adult, Mr Lancer took it upon himself to lead his students, despite being terrified beyond comprehension at coming face to face with a gun. Danny fell in at the back, just as scared as Mr Lancer, with an equally scared Sam holding his hand with Tucker and Valerie holding hands in front of them.

_What are going to do now? _ Danny asked himself as the dark jungle swallowed them up.

**I sincerely hope everyone enjoyed this latest chapter and look forward to the rest of the story. Until next time, have a very Merry Christmas.**

**Lord Pugsy.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Hello everyone. Lord Pugsy here. I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas and ate far too much for your own good. Here is the latest instalment and I hope you enjoy it.**

The team of six, armed men had led the group through the jungle; following the stream where they collect their water, up to the waterfall where Danny had encountered the baboon. What Danny saw next, made him mentally kick himself. Just around corner of the waterfall was a colossal complex, one that could rival Fort Knox in a jungle setting. Only nature hadn't been too kind to the prison compound. The outer fencing had collapsed in on itself and one of the watch towers had fallen and taken out one of the outer walls. The rest of the building was surprisingly intact, in spite of the amount of vines covering it. Danny theorised that the building must have been there for at least a few decades. He was about to turn to Sam and discuss it with her when he was sideswiped from the guy bringing up the rear.

"You speak without being spoken to first and I will take great pleasure in gutting your little girlfriend here, and make you watch as she dies a very slow and painful death." He said gruffly, flashing a machete he had at his waist, just to show he wasn't playing around. Danny took Sam's hand, nodding stiffly. He knew he could take out two or three of the men quite easily (starting with the one who just threatened Sam); maybe four if he was really quick.

_But the other two will be quickly on me and probably start shooting everyone, _Danny thought morbidly. _I can't risk doing anything stupid just yet. _

"You do as you're told, and you won't get hurt. Well, you won't get shot, put it that way." Said the man who spoke at the campfire, laughing maliciously as he ushered his captives over the debris and into the building. "Welcome to your new home." The group was surprised to see, as they were led down a corridor, that the armed men had electricity; lights adorned the ceiling, illuminating their path as they ventured deeper into the building. Before too long, the groups' armed escorts brought them to a heavy bolted door.

"Welcome to your new accommodation." Declared the leading man, whom Danny suspected was already lying to them. "So go on in, make yourself at home and get to know your new roommates. A couple of us will return later to discuss a few things." With that, he motioned to two of the others and they unlocked the door. When no one made a move to enter, the one who threatened Sam before unsheathed his machete. Everyone's stomach dropped when they got a proper look at the large knife; the electric lights showed dried blood encrusting it. This was all the encouragement the group needed as they hurried into the room, the door closing behind them.

"Hey. You're that kid from the ship." Came a voice from within the room.

The group stood in shock at the sight before them. The room they had entered was a thirty by thirty foot, windowless room with a single table in the centre. Around the table sat five people; two adults, male and female, twin male teenagers and a little girl. It was the male adult who had spoken.

"You are, aren't you?" He asked again. "The kid who bowled a perfect game."

"Um, yeah. That was me." Danny said embarrassingly, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Yeah, I remember that." Piped up one of the teenagers. "You were awesome." Feeling embarrassed, Danny glanced over at Dash, who was just as embarrassed as he was.

"Thanks," said Danny, walking forwards and sticking out his hand. "I'm Danny. Danny Fenton." The man leaned forwards first, sticking his hand out and shaking Danny's.

"The name's Frank Baker." This caused the others to make a move.

"I'm Ellie Tyler." Said the woman, giving the group a warm smile. "These are my two sons, Max and James." Whilst everyone shook hands and introduced themselves, Danny noticed the little girl staying quiet.

"Who's the little one?" Asked Danny softly, observing that she had shrunk away from them as soon as they entered the room; slowly making her way to Frank and hiding behind his leg.

"This here is Megan." Said Frank, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. "She hasn't really spoken in the two weeks we've been here."

"They didn't do anything to her, did they?" Asked Danny, all of a sudden becoming very protective of the little girl.

"No, nothing like that." Ellie stated bluntly, before sighing sadly at Megan as Frank comforted her. "She got separated from her family when the ship went down."

"How did that happen?" Asked Mr Lancer.

"Probably best we all sit down and talk." Said Frank. Dash, wanting to forget the conversation about his bowling humiliation, offered to help move the table out of the way with Kwan, Eric and Craig so that they could have more room. Sitting in a circle, Danny found himself sat between Sam and Megan, who was still wary of the newcomers. Frank, who was on the other side of Megan, was the first to speak.

"I'm going to assume that our experiences of the sinking were different as it was chaotic and manic, so I'll skip to when we were adrift." Seeing that everyone nodded their approval, he started.

"There were thirty five of us in that lifeboat to begin with," he said. "We must have been drifting for what felt like days, but was probably only a few hours, when we were found by a rescue boat who had already rescued two other vessels. The only problem was that they only had enough room for twenty five people, leaving ten of us still in the boat. Before we could complain about still having children on-board, the guy in charge threw a small signal beacon into the boat and told us they would be back in no more than a few hours. They never came back and we ended up here." At this point, Megan began to cry, causing Frank to stop talking and comfort her instead. Ellie looked sadly at the two.

"She's only seven." She said softly, before picking up the story where Frank left off. "Anyway, we ended up here and were shortly found by these guys. At first we thought they were going to help us. They brought us here and they fed us. That's when problems started."

"Would that have something to do with why there are only five of you in here, when you said there were ten of you in the boat?" Asked Star. When neither of the adults made a move to speak, the twins spoke up.

"The other five were all family. Two sisters and their husbands, one of which had a child of about ten. I think his name was Rory." Said Max.

"Yeah," confirmed James. "They began asking when these guys were going to start helping us to get out of here. They kept blowing us off saying that a storm was coming and there would be no point in doing anything just yet. And us five believed them."

"But one of the husbands was a cop from New York; he knew when someone was lying to him, and confronted them about it." Said Max, before becoming quiet. "They chopped off his little finger as a response." This caused the class and Mr Lancer to gasp in horror at the cruelty their captors had displayed.

"They warned him that if he questioned them again, they would cut something else off." Frank started again, once Megan had calmed down. "Thanks boys. Anyway, even though he just had his finger removed, he wasn't put off and decided that he would try again with a different guy. Unbeknownst to him, the leader was listening in on the conversation, and action was taken."

"What? Did he lose his other little finger?" Dash asked jokingly, only to receive death glares from the other occupants of the cell. Ellie hung her head.

"He didn't lose his other finger." She said. "The leader said that something else would be chopped off if he questioned them again, but he didn't specify who would be the one to get chopped." Sick realisation dawned on Danny.

"Rory." He said softly, his hands beginning to shake. He stared down the two adults, defying them to correct him, even though he knew he was right. They nodded, causing everyone to gasp sharply once again.

"They took his hand." Whispered Megan, speaking for the first time, before breaking down into tears. This time it was Danny who put his arm around her to comfort her, causing Megan to clutch at his ruined shirt, dampening the useless bandages as she cried into him.

"Skilled fighters they may be, skilled surgeons they are not. He didn't survive. He bled out overnight." Said Frank. Those who weren't traumatised by the story already, most certainly were now; no one knew what to say as the information sunk in.

"What happened to the parents and the other couple?" Valerie finally asked.

"For a few days, nothing. They practically died themselves and never let go of Rory's body. They just kept begging for him to wake up." Said James.

"It was when they came to get Rory's body that problems started." Said Ellie. "Mark, the dad, started fighting them off and even knocked one out, but the others attacked him until he was black and blue. In a sick way, we were glad they took Rory away. He began to smell and Megan couldn't stop staring at him. We still see his lifeless body when we close our eyes." At the mention of her name, Megan twitched before hugging Danny even tighter.

"Then the family completely shut down for several days, but we had an inkling that they were planning something." Frank started again. "They put forward to these guys that as Rory's family, they deserved to have a small funeral for him. Using up the only shred of humanity these people had left in their entire bodies, and much to our surprise, they agreed."

"Seriously?" Asked Chelsea, not believing what he was hearing.

"We thought the same thing." Said James. "But, the day before yesterday, those bast-."

"James!" Ellie cut in.

"Sorry," he said. "Those _people_ came and took them to put Rory to rest."

"Next thing we know, we're hearing gunshots and shouting. We haven't heard from them since." Finished Max. The group again were at a loss for words, realisation crashing upon them that their captors are more than willing to hurt and kill them.

"There's something you're not telling us, isn't there?" Asked Tucker.

"I don't know what you mean." Said Frank, but his shifty eyes were a dead giveaway.

"What have you neglected to tell us?" Asked Mr Lancer, voicing what the class were thinking, but Danny had a suspicion he knew what it was.

"Do you think we won't believe you?" Asked Danny, causing Frank, Ellie and the twins to look at each other furtively.

"Wait, are we talking about the energy-field thing that fried all of our tech?" Asked Nathan.

"You know it?" Frank asked, incredulously.

"Know it? It killed Cheryl." Cried Tucker. Before anyone could overreact, Valerie stepped in.

"He means his PDA." She said, much to the groups' relief. "He's a self-proclaimed Techno-Geek, and his PDA, aka Cheryl, got fried to bits when we passed through the energy-field, as well as our phones and signal beacon."

"The same thing happened to us." Said Ellie. "As soon as we passed through it, the mini-signal beacon we were given instantly short-circuited and starting giving off smoke."

"That is exactly what it was designed to do." The occupants of the room whipped their heads towards the door to see three of their captors standing in the doorway, still armed. Talking ceased immediately as everyone couldn't take their eyes off of the guns the men were wielding.

"It's time we had a little chat with our latest guests. However, as it's been a long and highly informative day, we don't want to have to deal with all seventeen of you. So we're going to ask for five volunteers from your group." The man in the middle said. When no one stepped up, he sighed and fired several rounds into the floor in front of them.

"If no one volunteers in the next five seconds, the next round of bullets will enter your heads. Starting with the little one." He said, aiming the gun at Megan's terrified face. Danny instinctively stood in front of her, staring down the man with the gun. The man with the gun faltered under the teenager's glare; it was more than enough to make him inwardly flinch. Danny, seeing this, mentally congratulated himself over this first, small win.

"Congrats kid," started the man on the left, oblivious to what had just happened. "You just volunteered. Who else?" With only slight trepidation, Sam, Tucker, Valerie and Mr Lancer stepped forward.

"Now we're learning," said the man on the right. "Now follow us. We've got some questions we'd like to ask you."

The armed men led them deeper into the complex, through a maze of corridors which all looked the same. Finally, they came to a door, similar to their one, and entered without knocking. Inside was a typical prison's office; a rectangular table in the centre, blank concrete walls and no sight of any personal possessions. The room was occupied by the other three men who had found them at the beach; the man who had spoken to them there was sat in the chair immediately behind the desk, with the other two standing at his side. Danny took the opportunity to get a really good look at his captors. Despite all being the same height and build, there were varying differences between the six of them. The one behind the desk had dirty blonde hair, a stubbly beard and steely eyes; his fatigues were ripped and Danny saw small blood stains on them. Danny also noticed that he was tapping his fingers on the table as he assessed the group of five in front of him; also taking the occasional glance over Danny's shoulder. The two either side of him could have passed as twins; both were bald and had emotionless faces. The only difference was that the one on the left had a jagged scar going down his right cheek. Once again, their clothes were ripped and worn out. Danny slowly turned his head around to look at the three behind him; what was out of place was that the one to the right of the door was clean shaven, had a relaxed stance and had eyes only for the guy in the chair.

"Allow me to make the introductions," he started, giving the group an award-winning smile, still tapping away. "My name is Striker, and I am the leader of this merry gang." Striker then gestured to those behind him.

"The one on the left with the unfortunate scar is Tracer, with the other being his brother Raider. The gentleman with the machete behind you is known as Brawler, the one in front of the door is Invader and last, but not least, the other one is Hunter. Our names derive from our abilities and which skills we excel at." With a final glance over Danny's shoulder, Striker leant back in his chair and took in the group, waiting for them to make the first move. He gave a small smile when he saw Mr Lancer perform typical hostage-like behaviour: nervous glances around the room, sweating profusely, shifting stances and shaking hands. The smile, however, was wiped from his face when he noticed the four teenagers staring ahead intensely at him. The raven-haired teen, in particular, was making Striker feel uncomfortable. To get past this, he realised he would have to make the first move.

"Care to divulge your names to us?" Striker asked. "It is only fair as we have introduced ourselves." Mr Lancer was about to speak, when Danny cut him off by raising his hand.

"Fairness would imply a sense of truth." He said clearly, his eyes never leaving Striker's. "How can we be fair when you are blatantly lying to us?"

"I don't know what you mean." Said Striker, a nervous flicker in his eye. Leaning in close, Danny spoke again.

"You're not the leader." He said calmly, then gestured behind him. "Hunter is." There was a moment of silence before the sound of clapping was heard. Turning, the group saw Hunter smiling and clapping.

"Very clever young man." Hunter said, gesturing for Striker to vacate the chair. Sitting down, he looked back at Danny. "You're a lot sharper than I gave you credit for. But tell me, how did you know?"

"Striker is good, but not good enough." Started Danny. "Someone in charge wouldn't be too keen on making themselves known before interrogating their hostages. Secondly, you are the only tidy person in this room, whereas the rest are wearing tattered clothes. Thirdly, a leader would have confidence oozing out of them. He wouldn't be tapping away and glancing every two seconds behind their captives, looking for affirmations."

"You mean like yourself?" Asked Hunter, catching Danny off guard. "I have been watching you young man. From the beach, where I saw you sizing us up, the way you placed yourself in front of the little girl and just now when talking to Striker. You have the characteristics of a leader. And a good one at that." Still smiling, he reached below the desk and pulled out a shotgun and machete, similar to Brawler's and placed them on the desk.

"Now, as Striker said, I think you owe us the courtesy of telling us your names." Hunter said, taking a more relaxed posture in the chair. Knowing that Hunter would follow through with any threat made against them, Danny acquiesced.

"I'm Danny." Said Danny, and then gestured to his friends.

"Sam."

"Tucker."

"Valerie."

"And I am their teacher, Mr Lancer."

"Excellent. Now that the niceties are over and done with, it's time for business and information." Said Hunter, turning to Tracer and Raider. "Bring in some chairs for our guests, then get yourselves back to the others and keep an eye on them." The two nodded and left, shortly returning with chairs and leaving once again.

"Now, knowing how sharp you are, I propose a trade. Information for information. Sound fair?" Asked Hunter whilst the group sat down. Danny looked at the other four and saw them nod; seeing no harm, Danny nodded.

"Now, some ground rules," started Hunter, picking up the machete, his voice taking a dangerous tone. "If any of you lie to me and my associates, I will use this extremely sharp knife and take great pleasure in carving you up like a turkey on Thanksgiving. Are we clear?" Once again, realising he wouldn't be able take down all of them without at least one shot going off, Danny was quick to nod.

"Wise choice." Said Hunter, clapping his hands. "As an extension of my hospitality, I will allow you the first question." Tucker was the first to ask a question.

"What is the energy-field surrounding this island?"

"Stolen technology from NASA." Hunter said simply. "We got word that they had finished making a prototype force-field generator to be used on the next moon landing. We decided to liberate it and make use of it. It has come in very handy when undesirables have traipsed too close for our liking." All but Mr Lancer knew Hunter was hiding something about the energy-field, but they couldn't say anything as it could jeopardise Danny.

"My turn." Said Hunter, leaning forwards. "How did you end up here? The other group couldn't be very specific with me."

"Our ship sank." Stated Danny. "We were adrift in our lifeboat, when we came across the energy-field and this island."

"Now who isn't telling the whole truth?" Smirked Hunter, an evil glint in his eye, his hand inching towards the machete.

"We don't know how we got here," started Sam, her eyes fixed on the knife. "We figured out that the current was sending us in the wrong direction. It was actually going to be my question for you." Hunter stared at them for a moment longer, but seemed to accept their answer.

"That was more information than the others could give us." He said, bringing his hand back to his lap. "We can't explain the current; that wasn't us. That was free. Ask your next question."

"Did you have anything to do with the sinking of our ship?" Asked Mr Lancer, causing Hunter to laugh and the others to snigger.

"I was wondering when someone would ask me that. The other lot were very quick to assume we had something to do with it. I'm going to tell you the same thing I told them. No." Knowing that they had no way of contradicting him, even if he was lying, the five of them had no choice but to accept his answer.

"My turn." Said Hunter staring at Danny, his eyes slowly making their way to Danny's exposed bandages. "How did you manage to kill my panthers?" This caused Danny to sigh.

"After being chased off by a Komodo dragon, I thought it would be a good idea for us to have weapons to protect ourselves." Danny said simply.

"Carry on." Said Hunter, genuinely interested as to how this teen managed to overcome four jungle cats.

"Some skill and a lot of luck." Shrugged Danny. "My mum is a ninth degree black belt who taught me some moves. I took it further and am currently a third degree black belt. I know how to handle myself in a fight."

"Far too modest. I would say a great deal of skill was needed in what you achieved. It's not every day you come face to face with ferocious predators and live to tell the tale. Even if you didn't come out of it lightly." Said Hunter, gesturing towards the bandages on Danny's chest. "Your turn."

"What happened to Rory's family?" Asked Valerie, her voice starting to quiver.

"Dead." Hunter stated simply. His tone took Danny aback; it was as if he was describing the weather. The ghosts Danny fought on a regular basis had more emotion than the people keeping them prisoner.

_These people are psychopaths,_ Danny thought to himself.

"I think one more question each before I send you on your way. I'll start." Said Hunter, daring Danny to speak first. "During your stay here, will you behave cordially and follow our rules?"

"As long as you give us reason to, then yes." Was Danny's response, causing Hunter to chuckle.

"Oh I like you kid." He said, still smiling. "I think we're going to get on famously. Or infamously; take your pick. Now ask your final question."

"A typical and obvious question would be to ask who you are." Said Danny, looking at the leader.

"Yes it would." Replied Hunter, putting his elbows on the table and resting his chin on his hands.

"But I know you to be sharp and deceptive, just like you were earlier. So my question has to be more specific. Who _exactly _are you six?" Asked Danny, earning a chuckle from Hunter.

"A history lesson for the students. What a pleasure. I knew I was right about you Danny." Said Hunter, relaxing once again into his chair. "The others never thought to ask me that. They just kept asking stupid questions about this place."

"Ah, where to begin." Hunter said, getting up from his chair and beginning to pace around the room. "I suppose I should start thirty years ago when we first found this island. You see, we were what you would call 'problem' teenagers. As a punishment for our delinquency, we were sentenced to five years at sea. It was supposed to promote character building, but I digress. During the third year, we found this island, and eventually this place; it was abandoned after the Second World War, and it was perfect. Us, and along with some others who couldn't be here today, decided that we should make the permanent relocation to here; our parents couldn't care less about us so we knew it wouldn't be too much hassle. We took over the vessel and killed the captain. As the years went by, we realised a renovation was in order, so we decided to do something about it. We would hijack and steal ships and take what we could. We even ended up with a pretty good vessel of our own which we decided to keep. Those were the good years. We took on many names during those times; 'privateers', 'pirates' and 'scavengers'. But our favourite was 'hunters', hence my namesake. So we took it upon ourselves to start stealing wildlife and bring it here so we could take part in some sport whenever we got bored. But as time passed, our leader began to get reckless on our 'expeditions'. On more than one occasion, he brought various coastguards and international agencies to the island, which had to be killed of course, but that's beside the point. The time came when he had to be eliminated."

"You killed your own leader?" Asked Tucker, shocked.

"It was necessary." Hunter said simply. "When you have a rabid dog, you put it down. Simple as that. The same applied here. It was also around about the time we acquired the energy-field. A year or so later is when strange things started to occur. Men would go missing in the night; animals were skinned and their pelts taken. There was talk about our leader's ghost coming back to haunt us, but a lot of us brushed it off as mere superstition. Another year passed and the occurrences kept happening, and became more violent. That's how Tracer got his scar. By this point, we accepted that it was his ghost, so we hatched a plan. We received some information during one of our voyages about a trio of scientists at an American university, who were creating some sort of ghost portal prototype." If Hunter heard Danny, Sam, Tucker and Valerie gasp lightly, he didn't let on.

"By the time we got there, there had been an accident and one of the scientists was in the hospital." Hunter carried on. "We used this to our advantage. We took some of their plans and equipment and created an 'ecto-filter', which we installed into our generator. For a little over twenty years, we have been living peacefully with no disturbances."

"So it really was your ex-associate's spirit." Said Mr Lancer, more to himself than anyone else.

"It would appear so." Confirmed Hunter. "It was a real shame we had to kill him. He was fantastic in those early years. He trained us how to hunt, how to fight, how to set traps and how to clean wounds. He was an expert. He could track an animal from one side of the island to another, even if he gave it a day head start. Now, I think that's enough story time for one day. Brawler and Striker will take you back to the others." As Danny stood up, Hunter grabbed his arm, and whirled him around to face him.

"Before you get any bright ideas about escaping, just know this. You were sharp enough to see through my ruse, but you weren't sharp enough upon entering the compound. There are actually seven of us in this group. Posted up in one of the remaining watch towers is our seventh member. He is known as Sniper, and I don't think I need  
to explain why he is called that, do I?" Danny shook his head, his eyes never leaving Hunter's. As he was being led out, Danny's nagging feeling returned with a vengeance about the leader's ghost. Trusting it, he turned back to Hunter.

"Can I ask you one more question?"

"That would depend on the question Danny." Hunter responded, picking up his own machete and sheathing it.

"What was the guy's name?" Danny asked. "Your leader whom you killed."

"A peculiar question." Said Hunter, giving Danny a strange look. "His name was Miles Richardson. But his codename was Skulker."

**Just a quick Happy New Year for those currently in 2014, and a premature Happy New Year for those still in 2013. Once again, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and continue to read on. Until next time.**

**Lord Pugsy.**


	12. Chapter 12

**Hey everyone. Lord Pugsy. Here is the latest instalment of A Phantom Marooned, and I hope you enjoy it. I do not own Danny Phantom, only the story.**

The moment the five reluctant volunteers left the room, an uncomfortable silence fell upon the rest of the survivors as they looked at each other. The rest of the English Class realised that in the past forty-eight hours, they had come to depend on the mysterious Danny Fenton and his closest friends to lead them; from training and learning to defend themselves, to starting a simple conversation.

"So," started Dash, attempting to break the silence, looking at the twins who appeared to be roughly the same age as them. "Either of you play any sport?" The twins just shrugged.

"We play football and baseball from time to time." Said James. "Not that it matters much here."

"More into football though." Said Max. "We play for our school."

"So do we. Dash and I play for our school, Caspar High." Said Kwan. This struck a chord with all five of them.

"Caspar High?" Asked James. "As in Caspar High of Amity Park?"

"You've heard of us?" Asked Nathan.

"Everyone knows who you guys are. You live in the ghost capital of the United States." Said Max, excitedly. "Tell us, do you know Inviso-Bill, or Danny Phantom?"

"The Ghost Boy?" Squealed Paulina, showing more excitement in a few seconds than she had in the past week. "Of course we do. He's my soul mate." Whilst Frank, Ellie and the twins looked on with confusion, the students of Caspar High face palmed whilst Paulina just continued having a dreamy look on her face.

"Anyway," began Star, cringing at Paulina's obsession over Danny Phantom. "You know all about Phantom?"

"Not really." Admitted Ellie. "We only know what we've heard in the news; about how sometimes he's a menace, and other times when he's a hero."

"That depends on who you talk to in Amity." Said Michelle, looking down.

"How do you mean?" Asked Frank.

"Well, if you were to ask teenagers, they would all say he's a hero." She responded. "But, if you asked most adults, they will tell you he's dangerous. Especially the Fentons."

"Fentons?" Asked Frank, the name ringing a bell. "As in Danny's parents?"

"The very same." Said Mikey. "Everyone thought they were crazy to begin with, continuously spouting off nonsense about ghosts being real. When the ghosts first started coming, some people started believing them. But when the town got trapped in the Ghost Zone, doubt no longer existed."

"That was also the point when some adults finally began seeing Phantom as a hero." Said Kwan, memories of that day flooding his mind; remembering how Phantom had flown off to fight the Ghost King.

"He risked his after-life for us that day, but some people, namely the Fentons, still think he's evil." Muttered Paulina.

"Even after everything he did for your town?" Ellie asked incredulously.

"Unfortunately." Said Chelsea.

"But hasn't he fought off hundreds of ghosts?" Asked Frank.

"Loads." Confirmed Nathan. "He fought a massive storm ghost, a ghost who could control technology and a massive plant ghost who covered the entire town in vines. He's done everything for us."

"What about Danny?" Asked Megan, speaking for the first time; she had been silent ever since Danny left the room, hoping that he would return soon. Before the students could answer her, they faltered. They had never once heard Danny, or any of his friends for that fact, talk about Phantom. Whether it be positive or negative. The only exception was Valerie, who for a long time despised Danny Phantom. It was only just after the C.A.T's that Valerie had stopped talking about him.

"We don't know." Star said finally, looking down. "We don't really know much about Danny. Or his friends. We've learned more in these past couple of weeks than we have in the six years we've known him."

"We all thought he was this wimpy loser who hung around freaky people and had freaky parents." Said Dash, a new feeling of guilt settling in his stomach. "But we've seen him do impossible things since we got here."

"Such as?" Asked James.

"He was clever enough to know that the currents were taking us in the wrong direction." Mikey said.

"He led off a Komodo Dragon." Said Kwan, remembering the feeling of terror when they were stranded up a tree.

"He fought of four panthers at once." Said Nathan.

"Four?" Asked Max, disbelievingly.

"We know it sounds crazy, but he did." Said Star. "We were sat in our shelter, scared out of our minds, and watched, in the middle of a storm, as he fought and killed four panthers."

"You saw Danny's bandages under his shirt, right?" Asked Michelle; the others nodded. "That's where his chest got ripped open. It was so deep; there was blood all over the sand, but he carried on fighting." Michelle stopped suddenly, as a thought occurred to her.

"You know, it's funny," she started. "After Sam stitched him up, he hasn't once flinched or given any indication that he was in any pain. It's like he doesn't even realise that they're there anymore."

"Yeah," agreed Chelsea. "A paper cut can make most people cry for hours, but Danny got over it almost instantly."

"Sounds like some kid." Said Frank, gaining a sense of respect for the fearless teenager.

"Yeah." Murmured Paulina, her features once excited, were now fearful, all thoughts of her beloved Ghost Boy disappearing instantly.

"What's wrong?" Asked Ellie, slightly disturbed by the Latina's sudden change of mood. When Paulina didn't reply, Alice spoke up.

"You can't really blame him to be honest. I think most of us would have done the same thing, but we were all too scared. When we first got here, we were pretty much hysterical and panicking; some more than others." She started, giving a pointed look towards Paulina. "Danny was the only one who seemed to be calm and level headed about the whole situation. It's weird. It was almost like he had been in this type of situation before. He was composed and trying to calm us down, up until Paulina and Sam started arguing and fighting."

"It was like something in his brain switched, and the normally quiet teen turned into this angry and terrifying person." Said Bradley.

"His voice," chimed in Craig. "He could have threatened to rip our heads off and we would've believed him."

"His eyes blazed with anger and looked as if he was staring into our very souls." Added Eric. Once he said this, the English Class casted their minds back to that moment on the beach, where they had been made to feel like small children being told off by their parents, chills running down their spines. The others had a difficult time digesting this latest piece of information. What they had just been told defied all opinions and perceptions of the mild-mannered teen they had spoken to before.

It was at this point the five volunteers walked back into the room; as soon as Danny entered the room, all the occupants flinched when they saw the look on his face.

The look of intense rage and hatred on Danny's face was evident to all those who looked at him; his eyes were cold and hostile, the ghost within him threatening to unleash itself. No one in the room had any idea what to say; this was worse than how he had looked the first night they became stranded on the island. Any doubt Frank had about the information he heard about Danny was instantly dispelled. The class also noticed that Sam, Tucker and Valerie had angry expressions too, but not to the extent of Danny's. Only one word was running through Danny's head, all the way from Hunter's office back to their cell.

_Skulker_, thought Danny. _He trapped us here. The next time I see him, I'll…_ Danny didn't know how to finish the rest of that sentence. Before Dan, he would have just destroyed his suit for the umpteenth time and frozen the blob that is Skulker and throw him deep into the Ghost Zone. But now, all Danny wanted to do was to obliterate him from existence, in the most painful way possible. By this point, Danny knew his rage was beginning to become too much; he broke away from Sam, Tucker, Valerie and Mr Lancer, and began pacing at the opposite side of the room, away from the others. Sam, knowing how angry Danny was, left him to it as she sat down with the rest of the group, her eyes never leaving Danny's angry form.

"What happened?" Asked Frank, unnerved by Danny's sudden behaviour change.

"We think we know who's responsible for the ship sinking." Valerie said through gritted teeth.

"What do you mean 'responsible'?" Asked Bradley. "It was just a freak accident wasn't it?"

"It would appear that is no longer the case." Said Mr Lancer, a downcast expression on his face.

"Well spit it out then." Said Dash. "And just what the hell is wrong with Fenton?" He went to go and shake Danny into giving him some answers, when Sam pulled back on his arm.

"Dash, I wouldn't." She said firmly.

"Why should I listen to you Manson?"

"Because Danny is seriously pissed off right now." She said, her voice seeping with anger over the involvement of Skulker. "He's over there because he knows one wrong word could set him off, and quite frankly, I don't blame him. But you've seen how he can get when he's annoyed. Imagine what he's like when he's angry." This stopped Dash in his tracks, remembering full well how Danny had made him feel; he sat down slowly, eyes also transfixed on Danny.

"What happened?" Asked Star, looking nervously at Valerie.

"They wanted a swap of information. They ask us a question and then we can ask them a question." Valerie said. "They told us the story of how they ended up here and what they have done over the years."

"But who's the reason why we're here?" Asked Chelsea.

"It was Skulker." Sam said. "He's the reason why we're here." This caused everyone from Amity Park to gasp, knowing full well who Skulker is.

"Do you guys know who this 'Skulker' is?" Asked James, confused by their reaction.

"He's one of the more frequent ghosts we get in Amity. Always trying to get Phantom's 'pelt' for his wall." Alice explained, causing everyone to become disgusted at the thought of someone being skinned.

"But what's Skulker got to do with this place?" Asked Michelle.

"It turns out this is where Skulker used to live, before he got too big for his boots. These people here? Skulker was their leader until they killed him for bringing too much unwanted attention to their illegal activities." Said Tucker.

"Just when you thought these people couldn't get any sicker." Muttered Ellie.

_Why did he do this?_ Danny kept asking himself, continuing to pace. _Does he want us trapped here so he can hunt us? No, he wouldn't be able to get past the ghost shield. Does he want us here to disable it so he can get his revenge on Hunter? Maybe he wants Hunter and his psycho crew to get rid of me once and for all. _With more questions than answers, Danny's anger began to grow. It got to the point where all he wanted to do was to punch something as hard as he possibly could. Before he could though, two things happened; his ghost sense went off and time stopped.

"Clockwork." Said Danny, turning to see his guardian floating in adult form.

"Danny." Danny wasn't entirely sure how to react to Clockwork's sudden presence. It was the first time since what happened with Dan that Danny had seen his guardian.

"I was wondering when I would see you next." Danny said curtly.

"But that's not all you were wondering, is it?" Asked Clockwork, morphing into his elderly form.

"Why the hell are we here?" Asked Danny angrily. "We have nearly died several times, kidnapped by psychopaths and you have done nothing! Was it Skulker who did this to us?!" Clockwork barely flinched as his young wards' voice continued to rise until he was shouting at him.

"Danny," Clockwork started calmly, morphing into his child form. "Do you remember one of the last things I said to you after your confrontation with your future self?"

"What's that got to do with anything?" Danny asked impolitely.

"Do you remember?" Danny sighed.

"_The Observants look at time as if it were a parade, each event passing by one by one in sequence right in front of them. I see the parade from above, seeing all the twists and turns it might or might not take_."

"Word for word if I am not mistaken." Said Clockwork, smiling softly down at Danny.

"What happened that day has haunted my nightmares ever since. I remember every detail." Danny said solemnly. He looked over at Sam and Tucker's frozen forms, remembering how distraught he had felt when he thought he had lost them in the explosion.

"Are you saying that you haven't done anything because if you had, something terrible will happen?" Asked Danny.

"You are learning." Said Clockwork. "And to answer your previous question, yes. Skulker is responsible for the destruction of your cruise ship. But he is not the reason why you came to this island."

"How does that make sense?" Danny asked, confused.

"You touched upon it whilst you were at sea. The discrepancies in current direction. Skulker was not responsible for that, but he utilised it for his own gain." Said Clockwork.

"So what changed the current?"

"It's a perplexing thing, ghost technology." Said Clockwork, after a moment of silence. "Very temperamental in its early years, and can have calamitous side effects if not dealt with immediately."

"Are you talking about the energy-field surrounding the island?"

"Precisely. Combining any form of technology with prototype technology is dangerous enough as it is, but when you add an ecto-element to it, perilous events can unfold."

"But what does that mean?" Asked Danny, not understanding where Clockwork was going with this.

"The ghost technology that was stolen from your parents and Vladimir all those years ago was designed to create and stabilise a ghost portal, not to be used as a ghost shield."

"Wait, are you telling me that energy-field is creating a ghost portal?" Asked Danny, dumbfounded.

"Slowly, but surely." Confirmed Clockwork. "It is using the energy created from oceanic currents to power it. This island is acting as a magnet and an amplifier."

"So what will happen when it's finally formed?"

"It won't be anything like the portal your parents created. This will be a volatile rip in the walls between the two worlds, causing anything to fall through from either side." Danny was left speechless by this information, struggling to think of the horrific events which could take place if it were to happen.

"That is the first reason for why I am here Danny. You must find the generator for the energy-field and disable it. You have approximately a week."

"No pressure then." Said Danny, forcing a smile, alleviating some of the tension from earlier in the conversation. "I take it you can't do it because something bad will happen and the Observants won't be happy with you?"

"Once again, you are learning." Said Clockwork, giving Danny a genuine smile as he morphed into his adult form once again.

"But wait, what's the second reason you're here for?"

"Slightly more personal." Confessed Clockwork. "As I intervened with Dan, I effectively became your ghostly guardian, as you are aware of. As such, I am here because I care about your wellbeing Danny. Your anger is becoming incontrollable. Had I not intervened again here, your class and new acquaintances would know the truth about you. It is not the right time for you to reveal yourself just yet Danny." Danny took in what he had been told.

"How though Clockwork?" Danny asked desperately. "Everything just keeps going from bad to worse. Just when things start going in our favour, something always happens and messes it up. When it messes up, I get angry. Then when I get angry, I lash out at those around me. When I do that, I get scared that I am turning into Him."

"Don't be afraid of being scared. To be afraid is a sign of common sense. Only fools are not afraid of anything. But dwell on this; you faced your future self with courage and came out victorious. Dan no longer has any power over you." Danny looked into Clockwork's ancient eyes, and saw only truth in them. Feeling as if a great burden had been lifted from his shoulders, Danny smiled and nodded.

"Thanks Clockwork."

"My pleasure. But before I go, there are two things I need to tell you, because I feel you deserve to know them. However, you have to promise me you won't divulge the information to anyone. Not even your friends."

"I promise"

"Firstly, in the next few days, you will come to know that one of your allies will be in grave danger, but not one you would expect it to be. I cannot elaborate any further but keep a watchful eye out and they will be safe. And secondly," started Clockwork, raising his staff, a twinkle in his usually black eyes. "It was about time you finally kissed Miss Manson." With that, he shouted 'Time In', and the room turned back to normal. Muttering some choice, light-hearted insults at his guardian, Danny turned and headed back to the group.

**Once again, I hope everyone enjoyed this latest chapter. Until next time.**

**Lord Pugsy.**


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